


The Definition of Monster

by DeathbyKonami



Category: Hellsing
Genre: Adventure & Romance, F/M, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-05-15 18:30:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 37,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5795326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeathbyKonami/pseuds/DeathbyKonami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alucard has returned after his thirty year absence, and with his return come a string of vampire activity. Could it be coincidence, or a new enemy for our beloved characters to defeat. Blood will be spilt, alliances made, and through it all could our favorite two vampires find love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Return of the Count

Hey Guys, Konami speaking. This is my first work so if you find any problems feel free to let me know. Constructive criticism is always welcomed. I love hearing from you guys. I post a chapter on average once a week on Sunday or Monday. These first two chapters are shorter than the rest, so don't fret. The first two chapters are basically getting it setup. So without further adieu. Enjoy!

 

The sky was pitch black, the moon high and bright in the sky, and it was nights like this she was reminded of him the most. Not to mention, today was the thirty year anniversary of the Millennium attack, or as the higher ups liked to put it, "The Zeppelin Incident". Funny how the deaths of Millions could be summed up as a simple incident.

When he was still around she would often catch him out here. Sitting on the edge of the roof, chalice of blood in one hand, red fedora beside him, and he would always be staring at the moon, eyes glazed over in thought, as if the moon could answer all his questions.

Seras brought her hand to her neck, her fingers massaging the claiming mark on her otherwise spotless skin. Just thinking about her mysterious master brought on the familiar tingle in her neck, it was this feeling that assured her, her master was still alive.

In the beginning, Integra had high hopes of his return, but as the years went on she lost faith. Now speaking his name was frowned upon in the household, his room was sealed off, and all traces of him were swept away under the rug. All except one, herself.

After his leaving, she worked long and hard to become the vampire he wished her to be. She no longer forsaked blood, and over time began to find bliss in the carnage she wrought on missions. She was no longer that shy little girl he had first run upon, she was now a feared draculina. However, no matter how powerful she became, she still held on to her human emotions, and it was these emotions that kept her coming back to her master's lair, and currently where she was, on the Southeastern edge of the roof.

At first she visited his domain because it was the only place she could mourn him in peace. She was alone in the world, the only vampire in an organization, whose main goal was to kill others of her kind. When she was at her wits end, she could go to those chambers, breathe deep, and allow his musky scent to calm her nerves. She could imagine him sitting in his throne, one hand propping his head up on the armrest, his other moving as he spoke, almost like he was orchestrating what he said. Those times seemed almost like yesterday, but now his scent was faint, covered up by the musty odor of the basement.

So instead of his chambers, she now frequented the roof. Back against the iron rail, one leg hanging over the side, staring at the moon like he often did, it was at moments like these she felt like he was there with her. Still there to guide and teach her. She is often questioned why she misses him, and she can see why they wonder. They never really spoke to each other unless it was him mocking or chastising her, but what the humans don't understand is that the Sire and Childe bond they have allowed them to become closer on a level humans could never understand.

"Hey Master, it's me again. Can you hear me where you are. Does my voice reach you, or am I just talking to myself like a loon. Either way, even if it doesn't, it's nice to think it does."  
The wind blew hard, the air carrying the scent of rain to come.  
" Today Sir Penwood showed improvement with his fencing, Sir Integra greatly appreciated the match, he's the first opponent she's had in awhile that has given her any sort of challenge. Sir Islands possibly could if he bothered to show up."  
The moon grew fuller, the faintest traces of pink staining its hue.  
" I've also grown in my power, Sir Integra tells me all the time how far I've come, I'd like to think you'd be proud of me, wouldn't that be a change."  
The wind picked up more, rustling the trees to and fro, Sera's hair whipped around her head as she stared at the moon lost in thought.  
"Master, I know you abhor weakness, and you view human emotions as weaknesses, but I really do miss you. Even if all you did was chastise me... Well it was nice talking to you, but I've got paperwork to do before bed, so Good Day."

She went to stand, but as she did her knees buckled, and her hands went to her neck. The marks tingled harshly against her skin, like the feeling of a limb waking up. She clenched the marks tightly, and ears perked up at the sound of bats. They seemed to circle in the sky, almost like they were dancing in front of the moon. She had been so lost in thought she had not noticed until now the rich red the moon had colored.  
Nostalgia hit Seras hard, a lump forming in her throat.

"I haven't seen the moon so red since-"  
Her thoughts were cut short as her shadows sensed someone enter Mansion. Her shadowy arm manifested her Harkonnen to her, and within moments she heard the sound of gunfire from the Northern side of the Mansion.  
" SIR INTEGRA!"  
She fazed through the roof to the floor below and ran to Sir Integra's room, kicking the door in upon arrival. Integra immediately took shelter behind the draculina, however, Seras could feel no ill intent from whomever was in the room.  
"Ha ha ha ha ha"  
The red cladded mans shoulders rose and fell with each shallow laugh he made.  
"That laugh, and those clothes?!"  
Seras could not help the excitement which coursed through her veins. The red man then looked up, his black hair a lion's mane around his head.  
"Such a violent welcome, what an honor, I'd feared you'd forgotten about me."  
"Your Back!"  
Seras ran further into the room, shouldering the large gun on her good arm, while Integra sat herself back down on the bed, arms crossed across her chest.  
"You're a bit later than I'd expected Alucard, care to explain yourself."  
Alucard bit back a laugh, the look of amusement never leaving his face.  
"Killing oneself takes some time, and in my situation, there was a lot of self to kill. 3,424,367 souls were within me. Clouding my mind, denying me awareness. I butchered them all, until only I remained. I have returned, but I'm also always no where. It's a conundrum. The truth of it is, I am everywhere."  
"You have returned, and in the meantime, I have grown old and gray. Were you stalking in here to drink my blood?"  
Integra finally turned to face her servant, her face holding a bit of amusement.  
" Ha ha ha ha do you need to ask? I haven't eaten anything in thirty years. I'm famished"  
The last words said in a breathy drawl.  
"The young woman you knew is gone, I'm... Ancient"  
Integra's face showed the weariness she felt, her age catching up to her, if only for a second.  
"And I'm not"  
Integra gave the faintest of smiles. Then brought her right hand to her mouth, bit her finger, and lifted her hand to Alucard's mouth, to receive the Virgins strong blood.  
"Your home, my dear count."  
"Back forever more, my countess."

It was well known her Master viewed his Master as an equal. So much so he would bestow her a title fitting of it. A title of equal counterpart to his own.  
Seras felt the old stirrings of jealousy, and squashed them before they could form. Over the years Integra had become the closest thing to family she had, had in a long time. Their bond much like that of a sister, except this sister ordered her around and sent her out on missions to kill monsters of the night. They had shared secrets, and many drinks together; and over the years Seras had learned the complicated relationship which was Integra's and Alucard's. Loyalty and respect were the key components. He was loyal to her because he respected her, and she respected him in turn. However, their relationship would never blossom past Master and Servant. She was bound by honor, to her country, and to her family. She would never go against her family's creed, and Alucard would never let her. Infact, befriending a creature of the night such as Seras was as far as the Iron maiden would go. With this in mind Seras excused herself. Even after receiving virgin blood, her Master would still require proper nourishment, and while she was off retrieving the packets, it would giver her Master's time to talk.

Quietly walking away, she closed the door to Integra's room, and made her way down the corridor to the ground level below.  
Alucard heard the click of the door, and frowned towards the door across the room.  
"Hmph what a servant I have. One minute she's ecstatic to see me, the next she's walking out the door without giving me a proper hello."  
Integra looked to the door, then walked casually to her bed.  
"Always so hard on her, seems some things never change."  
Integra laid down on the bed, her covers coming back up over her body. A soft laugh escaping her lips.  
"And what is it you find so funny Master?"  
A look of curiousness crossing his face.  
"It's funny how things work out. After 15 years, I completely gave up hope of you returning, and all the while she would tell me you would come back. Ha ha, it's funny, because all the while she was right, and I just blew it off as being naive hope on her part."  
Integra gave a deep breathe, her one eye closing.  
"Now if you would excuse me, I'm quite cranky if I do not receive adequate sleep, it's not like my younger years when I could run on caffeine and will power. Now run along, I'm positive by the time you reach your own chamber there will be a meal waiting for you. Besides, you must be exhausted, so with that I bid you goodnight."  
"And a Good day to you, My Master"  
His voice seemed to come from all round the room as he vanished from sight, no doubt going down to his own dark chambers.


	2. Exceeding Expectations

Integra might just be onto something, his body was absolutely exhausted. He reclined back in his throne, hands folded in his lap, head leaned back with his eyes closed, and he felt every bit his age. Who would have known killing oneself could be so tiresome. Not to mention hunger inducing, he turned his head to the right, and on the table sat a metal pail.

Alucard reached over to grab the first bag, surprised at the warm state. Usually when he received the bags they were still cold, every drink tasting stale and of the plastic it was held in.

He finished the first one quickly and reached in for the second, and felt three instead of one. Not only was the blood nice and warm, but he had been given four instead of two. Someone was being very considerate tonight, and upon looking around the room they were indeed, very considerate.  
The room was devoid of the thirty year layer of dust he had expected. The main chamber had clearly been taken care of, and only one person would think to do that. The same person whose voice had carried him through the years.  
When his mass killing had begun he had heard two voices. The stern authority of his Master had hung on for awhile, but it was the melodic voice of his fledgling which had stayed with him from start to finish. The same woman who carried him though the massacre, had also been handling his affairs here.  
"She's grown, not only that, but she has exceeded my expectations... The question is, how far."  
He had expected her to grow in his time away, what he had not expected was the amount she would. Her power was magnificent for someone of her young age, and in his absence, she had become the vampire he always wanted her to be. He had thought his absence would be a setback in her development, and boy had he been wrong. Her shadows could be felt throughout the whole house, monitoring, wrapping around every surface as unseen eyes.  
"I will have to test her. See for myself just how far she has come."  
He breathed in deep, the dank scent of the basement filling his lungs, as well as the unexpected, but not unwelcomed scent of his fledgling.  
"I always did love the scent of Jasmine on a woman. I'll have to ask her how often she visited, not that I mind to much." He mused as he closed his eyes.  
The sun was still a few hours away, but he could not help the pull he felt to rest. Sleep took him effortlessly, his body being lulled to sleep by the comforting darkness of his chambers.

" I will not hold, you have transferred me to every department at least TWICE! Now I need to talk to the Mission Coordinator, and I refuse to be transferred or put on hold any longer, at the very least put Amethyst Stevens on the phone, she knows who I am and will get me to the right depar-"

"Please hold while you transferred to another department."

"BLOODY HELL!"

Seras was not a happy camper. For two hours she had been transferred to every person at the AHO besides the person she was trying to contact.  
"It's all that dimwits fault, if she hadn't broken her phone none of this would be happening, I would be able to get a hold of her to relay information, and she would be able to set up this damn appointment. But nooo, she has to break her phone and make everything harder on me." All said while banging her head on her desk.  
"Damnit, why can't the Americans do anything right, those burger loving, shotgun toting, redneck pieces of-"

"Hmph Hm"

In her frustration Seras had not realized, the line had already been transferred, and unluckily for the person of the other end, it was not the right department.  
"Hello, ummm who am I speaking to?" Embarrassment flooding each word.  
"This is Nancy... with Financing, how may I-"

Seras had, had enough.

"No NO NO, I'm done, please have a great fucking rest of the night."  
The phone was then slammed into the receiver, after which Seras winced and picked it back up to see if it worked. It was a little quieter than before, but lucky for her still worked.

"Busy day huh Mum."  
Seras lifted her head to see James taking a seat across from her.

James was a good fellow. Fair skin, sandy hair, medium build, light green eyes, and a smile that set any woman's heart aflutter, any woman, except herself. He's nice, a bit pervy, but good to talk to when days were slow. Not to mention, he was a fine leader. The only other captain besides herself in Hellsing, and one of the only people who could talk to   
her without seeming at least a little on edge. Pip was also on that short list, but didn't count as he was apart of her.

"It has been horrible. I woke up early at four o'clock so I could get ahold of Camilla, we worked out a schedule where she can come here next month, and then I tried to-"  
"Wait Wait Wait." James hands flew to in front of him, "Camilla is coming here."

After the zeppelin incident, a few other countries decided to set up their own Organizations to battle the undead. The United States, France, Japan, Germany, Sweden, and Russia. Camilla Sinclair being a Captain of the French Sister Organization. Hellsing was the only one willing to hire vampires in their employment.  
"Don't buy a passport just yet. Yes Camilla is coming here this year for quarterly training, she won't be here long, only two nights. I'm sure the great Captain of Unit 1 can handle that right?"  
James gave a thoughtful look, stood up, and pulled out a booklet, which turned out to be his passport.  
"Which days will be she here." He said while opening the Passport like he was taking note.  
Seras threw her pen at him, hitting him in the upper arm as he turned to dodge, not that it was easy for him dodge in the cramped office.  
"She's insane, completely and totally insane. Even for a woman."  
His face broke out in a grin, as she dead panned.  
"Really, you know I could easily show you crazier."  
His smile became mischievous, telling Seras she was about to hear something perverted leave his mouth.  
"Oh, really. Just how crazy we talkin here because I'm all in as long as it doesn't involve jumper cables and a saddle."  
Seras wanted to rebuke, but could not do more than look at him with curious, yet concerned eyes.  
"Trust me you don't wanna know, but I will tell you it took a week for me to get the frizz out of my hair."  
Seras could do nothing but laugh as he waved and walked out the room. Half sure what he had said was rubbish, and half concerned it was true knowing him.  
She continued on her paper work for another half hour, till the clock to her left chimed seven. Seven o'clock meant it was time to eat, and it also meant it was time to bring dinner to her Master. A job she was excited, yet apprehensive about doing.  
Walking down the hall to the kitchen she pulled a pail out from the pantry, and filled it with hot water. The steam billowing up on to her face, heating her cheeks. She then grabbed four blood bags out of the Industrial fridge, the cold air prickling her skin. She set two of the blood bags into the hot water, and drank the other two for herself. Shrinking back at the strong taste of plastic, usually she warmed her blood, so the taste of the blood would overpower the stale taste of plastic. But today she didn't have the patience to wait for her meal to warm up, so she dealt with the low quality taste chilled blood.  
After she finished she felt the packets in the pail, deciding they would be the perfect temperature by the time she walked to Masters chamber. So with an anxious smile, she grabbed the pail, and started the trek to the lowest level of the basement.

Alucard awoke slowly, sleep wanting to tug him back into its dark embrace, and he would have let it to, if he didn't hear the light footprints of a certain fledging coming his way. He was completely awake by the time the blonde had reached his door, he could see in his mind's eye her small hand raising to knock on the door.  
"You can enter Seras, promise I don't bite, much"  
Seras was taken aback by the use of her name, so used to having the nickname Police Girl grace his lips. Seeing as the room was still sealed shut, she phased through the door, meeting the gaze of her amused Master.  
"I see you learned to phase your body through objects."  
Seras walked to her Master picking up the empty pail from the night before and replacing it with the new one. Dipping her hands in she pulled the packets out, drying them off on her skirt before placing them on the table beside her Master.  
He reached his hands out grabbing the first one, and when it was drained picked up the second one to consume as well.  
"Yes I learned to phase through objects shortly after, your leave. I have also learned to turn my body to mist, bats, shadows, a wolf, as well as my familiar."  
Alucard was slightly taken aback, he had expected she had learned the first four, but learning a familiar was one even experienced vampires had trouble with. It took great meditation to learn what ones familiar was in the first place, and the average age of one to turn into theirs was in their fifties and sixties, twice her own age.  
"show me."  
Seras looked at her master, giving a smile of delight. Within seconds her body was covered in shadows, emerging not as herself, but as a white fox.  
Alucard couldn't help but laugh. It made sense she was a fox, as his own was a dog. Both belonging to the family Canidae.  
"Master, why exactly are you laughing?"  
She swished her tail from side to side, her small right paw coming up to itch her snout.  
"Change back now." He said with a wave of his hand, smile not leaving his face.  
Within seconds she was back into her normal body, clothes slightly ruffled, but otherwise fine.  
Alucard sat back in his throne, hands coming up like a steeple to his chin, eyes deep in thought.  
"From what I can see, she is far above a normal vampire of her age, then again she is not your everyday vampire, I must see her in battle before I can see the full measure of how far she has come, from their I can start molding what is left to shaped."  
"Master, is there anything else you wish for me to do?"  
He looked up meeting her eyes. Eyes that mimicked his own, he could just imagine the swirling dark tones of bloodlust within them now, Hells fire reflected from their depths.  
"That is all for now."

She bent down to grab both pails, putting the empty packets into them. Alucard reached out, hand going under her chin. He lifted her head, eyes meeting his.  
"One more thing, from now on you do not have to knock when bringing my meals. I can sense you coming down the hall before you reach the door, if I wish for you to wait I'll tell you before you enter. Now run along, we'll resume your assessment upon our next mission."  
His hand left her chin, stroking up her cheek before going back to its previous steeple position.  
Seras had to catch her bearings, the action taking her by surprise, and then walked to the exit with the pails in tow. She was shocked, her Master had just shown something other than distaste towards her, did this mean he was finally proud of her, at least a little.  
She stopped at the door and turned back to her Master.  
"Umm Master,... I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to say this yesterday, but it is nice to have you back Master."  
Alucard looked on with his perpetual expression of mirth.  
"And it's nice to be back"  
Seras nodded her head, and having nothing else to say, phased through the door to start her trek back up.  
Alucard leaned back, his lungs filling with the familiar scent of Jasmine.  
He frowned, why had he allowed her such freedom. Even he was taken aback with himself. He let it slide, seeing it as a whim of his, and reached down to grab a bottle of Wine.  
Half way through pouring his first glass, he paused, cursing himself lowly.  
"Damn, I was so surprised earlier, I forgot to tease her about my chambers... oh well, guess I'll have to catch her off guard and bring it up later."  
He finished pouring, and brought the glass up to his lips.  
"Yes, I'll have to do just that."


	3. The Angel and The Wolfe

Boredom, the true killer of the undead.  
Seras could live through a number of incidences; firefights, staking, burning, and possibly beheading. She could handle all of these and survive, but if she had to fill out one more report, she was going to eat her Harkonnen.

It had been two days since her Master's assessment had begun, two days of waiting for a mission to arise. Seras didn't know how much longer she could wait, the anticipation was eating her.

"Ma Chere." Seras looked up from banging her head against the desk to see the ever faithful companion, Pip Bernadotte. "Pip, how many times must I tell you, my name is Seras." In truth, his terms of endearment no longer bothered her, the only thing that bothered her were his adventurous hands. Which tried to grope her at least once a day, every now and then succeeding much to her displeasure.

" Ha, Ma Chere, we both know you do not care." He walked to the desk and sat on the edge. His one eye going over the documents she had been working on. Seras sat up in her chair, and stretched her arms above her head, popping the vertebrate in her back, and then quickly put her arms down upon noticing where Pip's eye strayed. "Pip my eyes are up here." She could tell already that tonight, was going to be a long night. His eye lit mischievously for a second, but he said nothing in rebuke to her statement. Only shrugged his shoulders before leaning back against a filing cabinet beside her desk, arms crossed behind his head.

Both sat in companionable silence for a second. It was early in the evening, and the sounds of soldiers feet could be heard as they switched shifts. Seras finished filling out the last of her paper work. Evaluation day was coming up, soon they would know who the new recruits would be into the organization, and every little thing about the day required a permission slip or a release form of some kind.

"Pip, please take these to Integra." She said while nudging the man with said stack of paperwork. He looked over to the papers in her hand, then returned to his previous position.

"Moi, je veux pas de faire ca, moi." That was his favorite thing to tell her anytime he didn't want to do something. When they had first met he would often speak french to rile her up. Since she had no idea what he was saying, it would drive her up the wall to hear things she couldn't understand, but when she absorbed him she had learned the language, so now the only reason he ever said things in french were to emphasize points. "Yes, I understand you really don't want to do it, but it would be nice."

Pip looked over to the blonde, his hands reaching down to pick up the monstrous stack of paperwork, "Only if you come with me, deal?" Seras laughed and rolled her eyes, "Fine, but only if you promise to keep your hands to yourself." The blonde stood and walked to the door, Pip following behind her, "I can not promise I will not, but I can promise to try." He said this with a shrug of his shoulders, while pulling a cigarette out of seemingly nowhere. She knew that was the closest to a Yes as she was every going to get, "Okay good enough."

She walked out the door, locking it before continuing down the hall to the basement stairs. Seras had two offices, one above ground and one below ground. The one above ground was a small room down the hall from the kitchens. The space was too small, and was only big enough for five filing cabinets, a desk, and a chair. Anything else in the room would make it more suffocating than it already was. The desk was already pushed against a wall, the filing cabinets lining the walls. Two in front of her desk and three on the other wall. Her below ground office was much larger, just a little smaller than her old room, and was connected to her current bedroom. Only problem was it had no telephone, and no internet; so sending faxes and emails were completely out of question. So out of her two offices, she had one with telephone and internet, but was so small it was hard to fit two people; or she had a much larger one, with no telephone or Internet access.

They walked down the hall side by side, Pip occasionally partially merging with her arm.  
"So tell me Mignonette, how long do you think ze peace will last now that "He" is back." Seras looked up at her friend, thinking of a good amount of time. He had already been here going on 3 days now, so probably not long.

"To be honest, probably only another day or so at most, if he isn't already working Integra up." Pip chuckled at the last comment. They both knew full well how boring the Manor was lately. Missions were rare, and if they did have a mission it was usually just patrolling a "Suspicious" site. The only times they really went on good missions were when they went to other countries. The United States and France to be more specific. Other than that the only things they had to look forward to were fights with their favorite Iscariot Regenerator.

Pip and Seras reached the end of the stairs when they heard the yelling. "Eh Bien, the peace lasted for awhile." Seras nodded her head in agreement. The peace had been nice while it lasted. Now she had to go see what her Master had done now. When she had said her Master would get bored and probably bother Sir Integra, she hadn't thought it would happen so soon. She thought he would atleast try and get a rise out of her first before she bothered the busy Hellsing heir. Though that may be why he had bothered her, the woman was always busy.

By the time they made it to the door the yelling had stopped, and Seras poked her head in to see what exactly was going on. Everything seemed to be in order, everything from the steaming blonde behind the desk with a finger itching to pull a trigger, to her Master grinning like a mad man in the corner. Yes everything seemed normal, the only thing out of the ordinary was the glass and ash littering the floor, from the looks of it Integra had thrown her ashtray at her Master. Not that it would hurt him, but it was better than wasting bullets.

"Integra, I brought the rest of the reports you asked for." Seras said as she walked to the heated woman's desk, Pip close behind her with the paperwork in tow, and both of them dodging shards of ashtray. "Thank you, Seras. You couldn't have arrived at a better time, a mission just came in." Both Seras's and Pips ears perked at the word mission. Finally something to do besides paperwork and going over formations.

"A freak vampire has been wreaking havoc in Kearney. It's a small, isolated village out in the middle of nowhere. Most if not the whole town has been turned into ghouls. Your orders are simple, search and destroy." Seras gave a grin, already knowing the answer to her question. "Sir, isn't Kearney in Northern Ireland." Integra gave a small grin, she knew what Seras was getting at, but she would play along. "Yes." Seras grinned wider, "And is Iscariot getting involved." Integra reached for a Cigar, lighting and inhaling before answering. "Maybe, let me guess, you want your orders on what to do if you encounter The Mummy." Seras momentarily cringed at the nickname before continuing. "Yes, if I encounter her."Integra gave a short laugh, if Iscariot was involved there was bound to be a conflict between the two girls. Neither of them could back down from a fight if the other was involved. It reminded her so much of Alucard and the late Alexander Anderson, as they had a relationship much like their prodiges do now. "If you encounter the Papist, you have permission to engage, show them what we're made of." Both Seras and Alucard bowed their heads, "Yes Master." And with that the Mission began.

Seras turned to look at her Master, his grin turning more wolfish with each passing moment. "Let us hope we run into Iscariot." Seras could feel his excitement through the bond. Her own flooding over to him. Seras walked out to the balcony, her Master following closely behind her. "And how exactly do you plan to get their Seras." A shiver ran down her spine hearing her name grace his lips. "the same way I always travel." She turned around to smile widely at him before jumping off the banister. Her shadows sprouting out behind her sending her soaring through the sky towards Kearney, leaving nothing but a red line in her wake.

Alucard looked to the skies, his glasses pulled momentarily down as he looked on. In all his years he had never met another vampire who could do that. Not without first selling a part of their soul. "She has grown quite a bit over the years." Alucard turned to see his Master walking up to the balcony as well. "I can see that, she's come a long way." Integra looked out into the sky, Seras long gone from view. "Over the years I have conducted evaluations of her abilities, she has quite a bit of your own powers, but we already knew that." Alucard looked on, waiting for her finish. "What I didn't expect was for her inherit some of your.. Shall we say... Modifications." Alucard looked over for a second before turning back to face the sky, his face remaining neutral "Go on." Integra brought her cigar to her lips, inhaling deeply before continuing, "Well obviously, most vampires don't fly." Alucard huffed, his arms crossing across his chest. "But she has also displayed regenerative abilities much higher than other vampires." Alucard once more looked on with interest, "what kinds of regenerative abilities." Integra gave a smirk, the bastard was a lot more interested than he was letting on. "I've seen her personally survive a shot to the heart." At this Alucard did turn around to face her, his interest finally showing through fully. "She not only was shot through the heart, but healed it much like you would." Alucard looked back over to the skyline. His face hidden beneath his fedora, but Integra knew if she could see, she would see the gears turning behind those hellish eyes. Then as fast as she could blink he was gone, leaving in his wake a cold breeze which chilled her to the bone.

Integra walked back to the desk, her left hip smarting off to her along the way. She looked down to the desk, a stack of paperwork still needing to be filled out. It was only a quarter till ten, and though the night was still young she sighed. Knowing full well it was going to be a long one.

Seras arrived at a clearing just outside of the village. It was littered with shot down ghouls and gore, and of course, her master was standing in the middle of it. Seras walked up to him, surveying the area with a short whistle. "You couldn't have at least saved one for me." Alucard pocketed the gun, head turning to face the blonde at his side. To be fair, he had walked around for a minute or two, but waiting had then turned into seeing how many ghouls he could lure to the clearing, and that fastly became a game of how fast he could kill them all. "Well I couldn't wait forever. Besides, there's plenty more in the village."

Seras closed her eyes, as her senses spread out to the surrounding area. Primarily focusing on the center of Kearney. She could see with her mind's eye the hordes of ghouls walking the streets. Mindless creatures, nothing more than hollow shells of their former selves. However, something seemed different. Seras couldn't put her finger to what it was, but something about them seemed different. Luggish even for a ghoul. Seras having seen enough from afar decided it was about time to finish the job. She looked behind her once to see Alucard walking behind her, a smirk plastered on his face. "You noticed it didn't you." Seras frowned for a second, before realizing what he was referring to. "Yes I did, I'm not sure what it is, but something doesn't feel right. None of them have felt right lately." Alucard frowned, his eyebrow quirking up, "This isn't the first time I presume." Seras slowed her walking till she was shoulder to shoulder, or as shoulder to shoulder as she could be with Alucard. Her face looking up towards his, "No it's not, these ghouls started showing up about a month ago. They lack intelligence even for a ghoul, they decompose faster, but other than this their are no visual differences between them and other ghouls we have faced." Sera's face grew grave for second, a look Alucard wasn't sure he enjoyed seeing on her face. "They are different, their auras are off, almost like they've been created by a Freak. However, we have never encountered any Freaks who could create such pathetic ghouls."

The duo reached the outskirts of the buildings in no time, the sounds of groans leading them to the right place. Alucard looked on with disgust, Seras had been right. These creatures were pathetic even by a ghouls standard. The good majority of them didn't even bother to turn their heads, instead they stumbled around, lost to the world around them. He looked down the road seeing several ghouls whom were unable to stand, their bodies simply not having the energy. Alucard looked to the blonde at his side, "You said they appeared a month ago." Seras continued to look on at the village before them, but still answered his questions. "Yes, in each instance it has been small remote locations, no Freaks have been found at any of the sites." Sera's head snapped to her left, her eyes closing as she inhaled deep.

"Master, there seems to be a survivor. He's in an Inn, about 80 meters to our left." Alucard felt with his own senses, sure enough there was a human presence coming from the Inn. Alucard grinned down at his blonde subordinate, "Well, lead the way." His hand waving down in the direction of the Inn. Seras momentarily looked shocked, then she remembered this was her show. Her actions were being graded, every thing she did pulled apart and studied under his unwavering eyes.  
Seras led the way to the Inn, her shadows spearheading the nearby ghouls, and her master shooting when he felt like. The ghouls he shot being ones she was already under way killing. Much to her irritation.

The Inn was small, looking to be about ten rooms in total. All the windows were shattered, busted in from the looks of it, and the front door looked to be kicked in. Seras flared her Shadowy arm around her, preparing herself for whatever might come. Alucard in turn was heard cocking his Casull. Seras stepped through the doorway, knocking the broken bits of door to the side along the way. The leftovers of a confrontation a few hours passed could be seen down the halls. Bullet holes and blood splatter peppered the beige walls. Seras walked down the right hallway, her shadows flickering and growing with anticipation. She had just made it to the room in question, when the survivor charged out of the room, knocking into Seras. Seras caught her footing before grabbing him by his collar and pushing him up against the wall. A comical scene for Alucard since the man was a good foot taller than her.

"Please, PLEASE, I just need the book! When I get the book I swear I'll go please you just have to help me! Please she's coming for me please, please, Please HELP ME!" The man was pleading with Seras, tears and snot smearing his face as he begged her to help him. "Alright, who is coming for you." Seras looked up to Alucard for suggestions, the man was doing nothing but blubbering a mantra of, "Please help me." and "I need the book." Seras tried again to get through to him, this time raising her voice, and emphasizing it with a squeeze of his shirt around his neck. "What book do you need, who is af-after... you?"

Alucard looked to his servant, her eyes seeming bewildered as she looked at his face. He titled the man's head to face his own, and was surprised as well. The man's scent was definitely human, his presence was perceived as human, yet this man was not human. He was a weak, cowardly, Freak.

"Please, please, I need to get the book back from It. It has the book." All gentleness left Seras as her shadows surrounded the man, boxing him to the wall as her presence stood over him. "Where did you get the chip?" Her voice was cold, harsh even. Eyes set like steel. The chippings of her girlish exterior flaking away before Alucard's eyes, her mask slipping off for his hungry gaze. He wanted to see more, he needed to see more.

"Ch- ch- chip, wh- what chip? I ain't got no chi- AHhh!" Seras had her claws in his shoulder, clearly done with his petty answers. "Who has the book? Sera's shadows were suffocating, it was a wonder the man was able to stand under with as terrified as he was. 'The- the thing, the monster's dressed like a priest-" The man continued talking, but Seras wasn't listening. Her eyes mimicked that of a child on Christmas morning, as if the best present in the world had just been delivered to her. As if on cue, Seras pulled her shadows to her like a shield, just as the head of the freak was shot through. Several more shots were fired, all at Seras. She blocked the majority of the bullets, but one managed to catch her in the side. She pushed it out easily, before healing it with a flick of her shadows. If these had been regular bullets none would have passed through her shield. However, these were special bullets, made from a silver cross, and blessed by the Pope himself.

Alucard's excitement grew with the stirrings of battle in the air. His finger itching to pull the trigger, but he would not intervene. This was not his battle, this was the moment he had been waiting to see. He told them all before, Integra, Walter, he had told them all there was something more to her. He had caught a glimpse of it in Cheddar, again in Badrick, on the battlefield as he told her to go and conquer with their Master, and now he would see the harvest of his work. His eyes trained on her, drinking in the sight not wanting to miss a thing. He noticed her posture, confident and on guard. Her shadows flickering madly across every surface, and her eyes. His breath hitched as he looked on, as her eyes truly did echo Hell's Fires. Seras walked down the hall, fazing through the wall and window to come face to face with her favorite enemy.

Her rifle was precariously thrown to the ground, as she pulled out her Dual Pistols, her face still hidden in the shadows. Neither of them could back down from a fight with one another. Much like their predecessors, they were each other's favorite enemy. Over thirty years they had grown together. Their original coming together a way of dealing with the pain. Both had lost much in the war, and though neither would admit it, they had a deep respect for one another. A deep respect born out of pain, and the desire to become stronger.

"We really do need to stop meeting under theses circumstances, if you wanted to see me so badly you could always just ask, Heinkel Wolfe." The woman in question came out of the shadows. The ends of her bandages whipping around in the wind. "As if I would ike to see you. You assue too uch." (As if I would like to see you, you assume too much.) Seras smiled at her enemy, her posture growing lax, "The man said you had a book. Care to share." Her body stance changed. She was down low to the ground. One leg out to the side, the other bent, her arms splayed out down beside the bent knee. It looked like a variation of what a runner might use to start a race, and the way a cat positions to pounce. It was a loose stance, leaving room for quick maneuvering. Heinkel was very familiar with this pose, in their earlier days that pose alone would have decided the fight then and there.

"Damn, I have to win, I can't let Hellsing get this." Unlike her younger years, she now knew how to avoid the quick attacks her enemy was known for. What she had problems with were her shadows, one wrong move and she could have a spike in her abdomen, or have a leg slashed. These wounds would heal in time, but during the fight it would cost her. Father Anderson was right all those years ago, she really was more than they could handle. Yumie and her would have been defeated easily, but she was stronger than then. She knew her enemies moves, knew the way she glided through the air, or used her shadows like like an extension of the body. Every glide her opponent made was precise, planned, aimed at where she predicted the enemy would be.

Heinkel pulled the book out of her Cassock, tossing it to a spot in the grass. This fight was in her favor. They were beside the Inn, and from the wall of the Inn to the tree line was 35 Meters. If they were to move it would be either into the trees, or into the village. With how the town was set up it was one main road down the middle, with two rows of buildings on either side. A road down the middle forming a cross pattern with the other roads. With such close quarter combat, there were only so many places Seras could move, her movements would be restricted, but so would hers if she wasn't careful. Seras if given the chance could easily turn the tables by using her shadows. She rarely ever did it, but when she was taking a fight between the two of them as more than just a spar, the shadows could easily be the death of her; and if this became the case, close quarter combat would be the worst choice. It all depended on how her opponent was feeling, if she wanted to test herself, she was screwed, if she just wanted to spar she would be fine.  
"Close quarter battle, I'm impressed. There's only one problem." Her back hitched as she prepared for the attack, Heinkel stood her guard, preparing to dodge. "I'm not allowed to lose tonight." Heinkel's stomach turned, the vampiress was taking it seriously. Heinkel looked around, something was off. It felt as if eyes were boring into her. She hesitated before looking up, her heart clenching tightly when she did. "No, it can't be?! He's gone, vanished." Heinkel pulled her eyes back from the Devil on the roof, her eyes going back to the enemy in front of her, "No wonder she can't lose, her Master has returned." By the time Heinkel had looked back over to Seras, she knew from experience it was too late to dodge the first attack. Seras was already ready to launch, and did so within the blink of an eye. One moment she had been crouched, the next Seras's shadowy arm had connected to her side. The wind being knocked clean out of her.

Heinkel was thrown to the side from the hit, crashing to the ground. Getting up in a hurry she put some distance between the duo. She had only seconds to prepare, she had been distracted when she realized the man had come back, but she couldn't be this time. The first hit was nothing but a warning to pay attention, now the real fight began.  
Heinkel fired her pistols, each shot seeking to hit the chest of her opponent, but Seras wasn't going to let that happen. By the time Wolfe had fired twice, Seras had already put up a shield, but even with the shield she dodged, it was nothing more than extra protection just in case. Each time she dodged she became closer, each time Heinkel fired she maneuvered towards the tree line. In any case she could use them to her advantage, but she didn't make it quite to the tree line. Her right clip ran empty, meaning her left only had one shot left. She quickly and with an expert hand loaded the guns in a record time, all the while running to her left to avoid any attacks. She didn't get far, as soon as Heinkels guns were loaded Seras went to the offensive. It took Heinkel only a second to realize she was to close, she was going to have to dodge the coming attacks. Seras's left arm pulled back, the shadows whipping in the air before she threw them to the ground. Black spidery lines ran down the ground towards Heinkel. Heinkel dodged to the left as the first spike rose from the ground. After the first they came in growing rapid succession. As much as she tried, she couldn't avoid getting nicked by a few, she thought she had them figured out, but as always Seras threw her for a loop. A wayward spike she had not been expecting placed home in her right side. Coming in the front, and leaving out the back. It was a through and through wound.

The shadows felt like fire, burning her from the inside out. Luckily for her it had been a thinner spike, longer than the rest, but an easier to manage spike. Heinkel pulled back, ignoring the searing pain going through her body, and pulled out a piece of scripture. Pinning it to the spike, dissolving it in seconds. Heinkel pulled her gun back towards the blonde, only to realize the spike had been a distraction. Seras was already leaping through the air, heading straight for her. Heinkel shifted her body preparing for impact, and lifting her right gun, fired upon the blonde. She only had enough time to fire twice, before the vampiress twisted her body, her shadows slicing up Heinkels body in a uppercut.  
Each of them fell separate from each other. Heinkel's hand went to her body. A long deep gash went from her left hip to her right shoulder. Her right shoulder was damaged severely, she would only have one arm to finish this fight. "Damn." She was loosing blood fast, the ground around her was coated in blood. She looked up towards her nemesis, her lips curling in as much of a smile as they could. Both her shots had hit. Seras had a large wound on the right side of her stomach, and her right shoulder was blown to bits. Heinkel could feel her body already knitting together. It would take an hour for her wounds to completely close up, but unlike her, Seras healed in seconds. Her shadows covered her wounded body, taking away all traces she had ever been hit. Her blood on the ground coming back to her. Heinkel went to reload, a task much harder with only one arm, but was cut short as Seras's one arm collided with her jaw.

The ensuing fight looked much like Alucard's and Anderson's used to. Sera's had blood running down her face, but that was quickly cleared up. Heinkel on the other hand couldn't clear her's up, she was a mess to say the least. Broken nose, cracked jaw, bleeding forehead, but as bad as it looked for her she refused to give up. Something Seras admired about her enemy. No matter how badly she decimated her, she would still come at her with everything she could.

Heinkel looked up at her enemy, confused when she saw Seras was staring off into space. Her eyes were glazed over for a second, but she came to immediately. "Sorry, it's been fun, but someone is getting impatient." Heinkel was confused, till she remembered the Devil was on the roof. She looked up at him, she had been so caught up in their fight she had forgotten he was there. Looking over to her opponent, Heinkel saw the look of determination. This was going to be the final blow. She knew she had lost, but she would take it with pride, because she shot the damned vampire three times in one day, and that was good enough for her.

Seras knew Heinkel hated mercy. She hated mercy being shown her way in battle. Maybe it had to do with the Captain sparing her, or maybe it had to do with something else, but either way she hated it. This was why every time they fought, Seras would finish her with a blow that would leave her unable to move. Seras would leave her in bloody rags, and Heinkel was fine with it. Because anything was better than mercy in her eyes. Seras gave one final crouch, Heinkel prepared to fire. Within the blink of an eye she was off the ground and in the air, shadows dancing in the wind as they prepared to strike. Heinkel fired, but they hit nothing but air, as her arms were cut from her body. Blood sprayed as Seras's shadows ran her through, over and over. Quick, precise jabs of the torso. Like a bayonet running through an enemy. The jabs stopped, and Heinkel was sent flying one last time as Sera's shadows slashed her across the torso. She landed against the wall of the Inn, body crumpling in a heap against it. Seras was splattered in Heinkel's blood, while Heinkel herself was drenched.

Alucard left his place on the roof, landing beside Seras. She looked up at him with a smile, to anyone else her face would have been the picture of innocence, but he knew better. There was nothing innocent about the look. It was the look of a person who had just defeated their enemy, the joyous look of someone who had just destroyed, and butchered the other, enjoying every minute of it as they did.

Seras walked up to Heinkel. The woman was knocked out cold. In the fight one her of her bandages had fell off, and lay across her chest. Seras picked the bandage up, before placing it in its rightful spot. Alucard watched on, his face a neutral mask. "Master, I think it's about time we left." She walked back over to where the fight had first started, and rustled in the grass coming up with a thick leather bound book. She flipped through, reading little words here and there, and then brought it to her Master for his inspection. He brought the book up, flipped through the pages for a second before handing it back to the blonde. "Yes, our mission is done. Let's go." Neither of them noticed the set of eyes watching them from the distance.  
***  
Somewhere far away  
***  
"Ma'am, it would seem the book has fallen into the hands of the enemy."  
A woman sat in a throne like chair, legs crossed, hands biting into the armrests.  
"Where is the boy I sent to retrieve it?"  
The messenger shuffled on his feet uncomfortably "He was killed."  
"Who killed him."  
The messenger began to sweat, the rage could be felt in his Master's tone. "A woman, we do not know her name, but she is the same woman who has the book." The messenger brought the woman in the chair a set of photographs, which had been taken at the scene.

Her black hair fell down into the light, as her bony hand grabbed the photo's from the young man. The first photo was of a priest, No? A woman dressed in priest garb. She had the book, but from the looks of it lost it to another woman. A smaller woman. With short, light blonde hair, and a red uniform. There was a badge on the chest which made the woman stiffen.

"Hellsing has the book, you allowed Hellsing to get the damn book!" The messenger fell to his knees, hands going to his head.  
The woman was silent for a few minutes, before slowly laughing her hideous laugh. "Rolan."  
The messenger lifted himself to face the woman. "Yes, Ma'am."  
What little of her face could be seen was twisted in a smile. Her thin lips curled showing pearly white teeth. "I want you to find out everything you can about this woman. Everything, I want to know this woman from the inside out. Is that clear."  
Rolan got up on one knee, no longer shaking, "Yes, Ma'am."  
"I also want to know who the man is, this man, the one in red." Her finger pointed to the taller figure, towering over the smaller blonde.  
The woman glanced at the messenger before her, her hand pointing toward the door, "Now go, I want this information as soon as possible." Rolan was up and out the door promptly, no doubt carrying out his master orders.  
She brought the pictures of the woman and man closer to her face, his face could not be clearly seen in any of them, face covered with glasses and a large fedora, but hers was. Beautiful red eyes, short blonde hair, a voluptuous body, and the look she sent the man spoke of high admiration. Who ever this man was she highly respected him, might even have feelings for him. She laughed lowly at that last thought, "Too bad for him, I want her, No? I need her." The woman snapped her fingers, within moments twelve girls of about 18 to 20 years of age walked out. There limbs stiff as they walked, the light shining off their porcelain skin.


	4. The Book

"I see, so the Freak was desperately trying to retrieve the book."

Upon return Seras and Alucard had immediately reported to their Master. A very tired, and worn Master.

"Yes, and before he could tell me where he had received his chip, or why he needed the book. He was shot in the head by the Vatican agent, Heinkel Wolfe." Integra seemed to digest what she was just told, silence coming over the room. Picking the book back up, Integra handed it to Seras, before lighting up a before bed cigar.

"I believe the Vatican knows more than they are letting on about these current attacks." She puffed her cigar before continuing, the only sound being the exhale of smoke. "Seras, I want you and Alucard to look into this book tonight, report to me tomorrow what you find. The Freaks body has already been picked up, and is currently being transported to a testing facility. Hopefully by either tomorrow or the next day we'll know what kinds of chips these are."

The older woman took another puff of her cigar before putting it out in the new, and hopefully longer living, ashtray. With a strain she stood, and walked around her desk towards the door, but not before pausing to give Seras a pat on the arm. Her own way of saying Goodnight to the blonde. Alucard on the other hand received a quick nod of the head, before she entered her own room for rest.

Seras turned to her Master, book pressed to her chest much like a student would there studies. "Whose room?"

"Hmm." Alucard looked down to his fledgling. "Well, we can't just stand in here forever. Would you like to work on this in your chambers or mine." Alucard turned down his glasses to look at her, his eyes lighting with mirth, "Well technically we could, but I guess you're right, lead the way." This was then enunciated with a wave of his hand. Seeing as how his room would be him in a throne and her on the floor, she opted for the latter choice. So with a flick of her shadows, she phased down the floors till she reached her own room, with Alucard right behind her.

She should have known he would do this. She had been working for the past four hours, the time was just past four, and while she had been working on deciphering the book and its cryptic meanings, Alucard had not done a damn thing but pester her. She looked up at the slacker in question.

When they had arrived she had told him to make himself comfortable, and that was exactly what he did. Gone was the hat and glasses, they sat on the corner of the table; he sat reclined in the chair across from her, one arm over his eyes, the right one swirling a glass of blood and wine, and his dirty riding boots sat propped up on her table, much to her displeasure. It had started with one boot and when she told him to put it down, he had simply put both feet up before crossing them. A smug expression crossing his features, because he knew, and she knew, that wasn't happening.

So, instead of bothering herself with him she busied herself with the book in front of her. Although the majority of it was written in english, barely legible english, other languages spotted the text throughout. Some parts of it that were written in latin, others in french, and one part in particular had been written in hungarian. She had skipped that part for now, waiting till the bastard in front of her decided to cooperate. A thought that was hopeful, as much as it was laughable. Seras sighed, whilst rubbing the headache lightly pounding at her frontal lobe, frustration getting the best of her. Nothing in the book made sense. The french parts that she thought would be easy to translate made no sense. The small amount latin she knew when translated made no sense when put in context with the text around it, the book in general seemed to be the mad ravings of a man long since passed. "Why on earth would he want this book so damn badly. That makes just as much sense as this book."

Putting her head against the table, she lightly pulled at her hair. "I must be missing something? But what is it?" She sat that way for a while, jumbling the translations around in her head, but it quickly led to the beginnings of a eyes gazed up at the man across from her, before traveling back to the book in front of her, but they didn't stay focused long before they were back to looking at the man across the table who was just as frustrating as the book under her head. She had to admit, he was more attractive than she remembered him being. Then again, it may be that she had never seen him this way, so relaxed. Gone was the smile she knew was fake most the time, nothing but a mask hiding his true self. Instead she was faced with a moment of reprieve on his part, with no humans around there was no reason to keep it on. She understood the need for a mask, she herself had one she wore around humans, the only human ever allowed to see past it being Integra.

Seras snapped herself out of her thoughts, nothing was going to get done if all she did was dwell in her mind all night. She had important things to do, and none of them involved thinking of the mysterious man across from her. A man who dredged up feelings she really did not want to go into right now, but nevertheless started to think of when the reading became too frustrating. "I thought I was over this already!" Seras's head went back to the table, her eyes going over the man who was both a blessing and a curse to her. She wasn't sure how she felt about him, it was a mixture of frustration, admiration, and a feeling she couldn't quite place. He was a mystery to her. No one had ever made her want to hug them and shoot them over and over all at the same time. It was confusing, and she hated being left in the dark, especially when it was herself doing it to herself. Not wanting to dabble more into those thoughts, she brought the book up into her arms, and proceeded to try and translate the latin on the top of the page. Completely oblivious to the mental battle going on with the man across from her.

For the past four hours he had kept his eyes shut, doing anything to keep his mind away from the object of his mental strain. For the past half-hour he had been counting to and from a thousand by sevens, but this was quickly not working. He had to keep his mind on anything else, but her. "To my left is two tall book shelves, one on each side of an archway leading to the office, I cannot see the office because their is a black and red floral curtain in the way. The same kind of curtains covering the two alcoves." Even this was quickly not working, but it was working better than counting down from a thousand. "The room is a square, with the two farthest corners being taken out with diagonal walls. Each diagonal wall has an alcove, the alcove to the left is a closet, and the alcove to the right is where... "Her" coffin is." Just the mention of said Her sent his blood boiling, and not from rage, but from something he hadn't felt in a long time. Lust. He knew the feeling well, he had spent many years lusting over women, but he hadn't felt it much since his imprisonment. A woman was what got him into this in the first place, so he was careful to avoid situations where he may be compromised again by their sweet smiles and almost demonic manipulative abilities. So he had to ask himself, how was it with how careful he was, was he in this position.

He didn't know when it had happened. The woman was plaguing his thoughts. Had been for three days. No, more than that. For the last thirty years he'd been hearing her words in his head, encouraging him, bringing him forward. Then when he had returned, he had seen her in a new light, and tonight that light had been crushed and replaced with a light much brighter than the last. He had finally seen her in battle, he had seen her power, and he had been impressed. He knew she had been holding back, but he couldn't blame her. Finding an opponent to play with became hard the stronger one became, and for thirty, well let's just say his servant wasn't weak, not anymore. His arm finally came down to sit behind his head, his eyes traveling over to the blonde in front of him.

His eyes traveled to milky legs visible off the side of the table,her reflexes earlier had been lightening, quick and precise. His eyes traveled up her honed body, to the eyes as sanguine as his own. Her eyes had glowed behind a curtain moon bathed platinum hair. A sight worth relishing in itself. When he had first brought her here, it hadn't been for anything nefarious, although Walter and Integra and argued otherwise. It had been for the strength he saw reflected in ocean blue orbs. Sure she had disappointed him, but even that had been interesting in a way. She held out longer than he expected, and in the end her opposition to blood had gained her a strength. A heightened sense of endurance and willpower, and a knowledge of what starving felt like. If she ever were in a situation where food was scarce, she would know how to handle the growing, gnawing pains of hunger. His thoughts turned inward for a moment, analyzing this new set of sensations. Seeing her in battle had definitely heightened something. She was merciless, quick, and so far everything he had wanted her to be. His mind was reeling, "What has changed, why was am I having these thoughts." For over a hundred years he had built a wall against the evil forces known as the female gender. He had met plenty of woman over the years who would gladly bed with him if he so desired, and when he wished he sometimes took them up on the offer. However, none of them broke the wall. They asked him, or he seduced them, and nothing was ever spoken of again. If this was the case, then how was it this woman was cracking his impenetrable fortress, and she hadn't even tried! He thought back to the woman over the years, through the blur of faces only a few stood out.

His first wife, a selfish woman who would have rather died than faced the future beside her husband. He had only married her because social standards of the time called for a man such as himself to have one. He had chosen her because she had been the more beautiful out of the lot. Neither of them loved each other, and they were fine with that. He had felt lust towards her for awhile, but that had quickly passed. Her selfish personality outweighing the outer attraction, fitting it was her selfishness and cowardice that had ended her. The next woman in mind was Lucy, again it had been for her body. He couldn't have cared less about her personality, it was pig- headed and her voice had grated on his nerves. Her laugh was the worst, shrill and obnoxious. He had been almost relieved when she died. Only reason it was almost, he wanted to be the one to do it. Then there was.. Mina... Mina Harker. A woman that if he ever got the chance, he would love to try out a few torture techniques he had learned since then. She was the reason he was here, she had deceived him, and then to top it off had led him to his imprisonment.

Seras was different, she was nothing like the woman he usually went for, and he was boggling his brain trying to figure out where this sense of attraction had come from. His eyes roved over her body. She was curvy, busty, and shorter in stature than what he usually went for. She wasn't hard on the eyes, far from it. Her face was young, if she were still human he was sure she would look younger than her age. Her demeanor was happier than his own, seeming to find a silver lining in the worst of situations. She was very much his opposite, and never before had he felt an attraction to someone so opposite himself.

She looked up from her reading, and the one fluorescent light in the room caught her face. He stopped his thinking for a second to look at her face, and noticed the faint white line going horizontal across her eyes. A human might never see it, but he was no human. The scar looked like a thin slash across her face, a scar, that once she drank his blood and became independant would go away. All of her scars would go away, the thin line across her eyes, her arm would grow back, even the dotted scars along her right arm. Scars that made him grimace for a second. "If I hadn't been weak against Anderson she wouldn't have those." From afar they weren't noticeable, but up close they were. White blemishes from the thorns and fire she fought against to help him. He could see them on what he could glance of her legs, and if he looked under her collar he would see them on her neck as well.

Normally, with any other person he wouldn't care, but with her it was different. It was always different with her, and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. In Rio he had shoved her into a closet, which she had fought against like her life depended on it, and later she had argued against killing the humans, which he responded with by yelling at her. Both instances he had felt an inkling of regret in his actions. He had brushed it off then as feeling pity for such a weakling, but that wasn't the case. He knew she wouldn't shed a tear now, not unless it was drastic, but if she did happen to let one fall, he knew he would feel the stabbing of regret. He felt regret in her getting hurt helping him, and a little self-loathing in leaving her behind to fend for herself. She had turned out just fine in the end, but the principle still remained. He wasn't there. This self-reflection BS was starting to grate his nerves, he had to do something or else he'd be stuck in this mood all night. "Is there anything you haven't learned to do?" He had to teach her at least one more thing, in total he had only taught her to use one ability. An ability she would have figure out on her own quickly, even without his help.

The question caught Seras off guard, she looked up from her studies to see Alucard removing his feet from her table. His body instead leaning forward with his arms crossed. "Well..." Seras had to think, there was plenty she didn't know, but her mind had gone blank. She quickly sorted through abilities she knew others of her kind had, telepathy, intangibility, shifting. Her mind finally found one she hadn't mastered. Her one good arm coming up to snap her fingers. "Portals!" Alucard gave her a look, with one brow perked up, "Portals?..." Although it wasn't the easiest, it was far easier than changing into a familiar. "Yes, I can't seem to get the hang of them, I always end up in the wrong location. Same with teleportation." Her shoulders sagged for a second as she continued. "It may have to do with my shadows being spread throughout the Manor, either way I can't seem to get ahold of it." She bit the corner of her lip, Alucard had to avert his eyes to the ceiling, trying to act nonchalant, but if she kept doing things like that his lust was sure to come back. "Anything else?" Seras pulled her hair back behind her ears, her tongue clicking as she tried to think. "Well I can use hypnotism, but it's a 50/50 chance of it working. I'm much better at intimidating my will unto others than I am hypnotising them to do it."

Alucard gave a short laugh at this, the image of his short Police Girl intimidating anyone with her size was laughable, but her presence, that was a different story. "I also haven't seemed to get the hand of telekinesis. If I even have that ability. I feel quite dumb pointing at an object and telling it to come to me. I feel like I'm trying to mimic Star Wars or something." Alucard had to hold back his bark of laughter, "No Seras, you do not have the force, but you can will objects to come to you. However, there is more to it than pointing at an object and verbally abusing it." Although he didn't know her the best, he did know her well enough to know once she became frustrated at the object in question, she would more than likely started verbally abusing it to come to her. As was evident at her slight redness in the cheeks. "Well... it's better than breaking it." He had to giver her credit, breaking the object was more along his lines, and he knew from experience that didn't help the case either.

The duo fell into a comfortable silence, the sounds of page turning being the only sound. The sound stopped for awhile, and Alucard looked up to the woman in front of him. Her eyebrows were scrunched up in thought, her bottom lip trapped between her teeth. He had to look away again, "I've got to get out here, this woman is going to be the death of me." He was so concentrated on squashing his libido, he did not notice her until she was standing beside him placing the book in front of him, her body positioned close beside his. "I can't seem to wrap my head around it." Her small index finger pointed to the french words in the middle of the page. "I know I have translated this correctly, yet there are words in every translation that do not belong." Alucard looked to the book in front of him. Only now actually looking at it with interest. Each stroke was written quickly, chicken scratch across the page, but even so, great care had been taken into writing it. He could see various incantations, symbols, everything one might find in a ... "Seras, I believe this is a grimoire." Seras faced scrunched at the term, "Master, what exactly is a grimoire." The name feeling funny in her mouth. He pushed the book a little ways away so he could set his arms on the table, Seras in the meantime took her seat across from him at the small table. Much to the pleasure of the older vampire, the scent of Jasmine coming off her skin was too much, especially when he could smell the faint undertone of lilies.

"A grimoire is a Book of Shadows. Pagans use them to write their experiences. Accounts of rituals, spells, ingredients for recipes." He paused for a moment to take a sip of his drink, before placing it down and pointing to a symbol on the page. "Each one is made differently, because they are personal to the writer. This symbol is the symbol of Baal." His finger traced the outer edge of the circle, Seras's eyes tranced by the movement. "From the symbols I have seen and some of the incantations, this man was heavily into the "Darker" arts." Seras noticed the way his hands quoted the word Darker, her eyes imploring him to continue. "Seras, how much do you know about magic." She shrugged her shoulders, "Only as much as Sir Integra has taught me, she taught me a few signs, as well as what some of the symbols on your seals mean, but that's all." He placed his hand on his eyebrows, he was in for a long night.

"Magic, to put it in simpler terms, is creating change by connecting with the energies of nature, or the natural world. It has no color, when we define magick as being black and white we are referring to it as it is used. To put it simply, if one uses it to harm it is black, if it is used for the good of another it is white, but in all technicalities magick is neither, it is grey, for it can be used depending on the circumstance for both." Seras leaned forward, her eyes trained on the man in front of her. "So this man, whatever he was practicing, it was not good." Her eyes strayed to the symbols on the page, not knowing what any of them meant, but now having an inkling of what they stood for. "Yes, and I believe your own to something."

They remained this way for the rest of the night, going over translations, symbols, properties of the craft in question. Up until the sun shone in the sky. The vampires in the basement untouched by its annoying rays, but pulled to slumber nonetheless. "As much as this has been fun, It's time to sleep." Alucard stood from his chair, his towering height only enlarged by the small sitting room. Seras in turn stretched from her seat, not noticing the way Alucard's eyes engulfed her form. He had turned around before she looked, his glasses and hat already obscuring his face. "Be sure to share what we have learned to Integra. I'm sure she'll enjoy the challenge the book presents." Seras stood with a yawn, the book already in her arms. "Yes, I'll be sure to do that when I bring her, her morning tea." Alucard nodded, his body dispersing from the room, his presence neither there but felt everywhere.

"Good day, Master."  
"And a good day to you, my Seras."

"Great, a grimoire." Integra had, had a fitful sleep the night before. Her bones could feel the coming of fall. It may not be there for a month, but her bones nevertheless felt it's coming. Seras had already been by that morning at 8 o'clock sharp to deliver her morning tea, as well as the book they had acquired the night before. She couldn't say she was surprised, she had guessed as much when first looking upon it. What interested her was what the secret message it held might be. Seras had explained it could be found in the mistranslations, but from the looks of it just translating the cursive writing was going to be a handful in itself.

A knock at the door interrupted her from her thoughts. She called for whomever was on the other side to come on, just to be greeted by Captain Wright. "Hello Captain, how may I help you." However indifferent she seemed on the outside, Integra had grown quite fond of the Captain. He was dependable, a strong leader, and didn't make her want to shoot either him or herself on a daily basis. Unless his perverted comments came to the surface, in which case shooting him seemed like a grand idea, but for the most part he was a welcoming occurrence in her busy day-to-day schedule. "Ah Sir, I just came up to inform you the supply truck has arrived, would you like me to take care of it, or would you like to take care of it yourself." Integra was in no mood to deal with bumbling idiots, nor did she want to answer the buzzing questions they always seemed to ask, like, "Why do you need 600 pints of blood delivered? Is this your own private army? Are you Royalty?" Or her all time favorite, "Sir ...Integral? Wait, I don't mean to be rude, but isn't that a woman's name?" The list went on and on, "No, I think you can handle this Wright, just have some of the men bring the delievery in, I would rather not have prying eyes in the manor." James saluted Integra, before walking out of the room towards the bustling men below.

Not waiting another moment, Integra pulled out one of her expensive cigars. Lighting the end with a deep inhalation, the toxic smoke filling her lungs. She reached over to grab the intelligence report received earlier from America, they were not the only ones to be receiving these abnormal Freaks. Which led her to the frustrating autopsy report on her desk. "Alucard is going to have a conniption fit when he hears this." She took one more long drag of her cigar, before putting it out in the ashtray beside her, her eyes staying on the pretty crystal beside her. "Maybe this one will last longer. Haha." She gave a short laugh at her own joke, because once Alucard heard the news she was going to be out an ashtray, as well as a few rounds of bullets. Yes, she could already feel the impending headache in the back of her mind, ready to sabotage her sleep later.  
****  
Somewhere far, far away  
****  
Rolan opened the door to his Master's chamber. The only light coming from the candles on each of the columns lining the small rectangular room. The lady with the long bony fingers and long black hair sat in her chair at the head of the hall. Her twelve faceless girls sitting around her throne.

Rolan had never been able to stand his Master's "Collection". Each girl was malnourished, their once gorgeous faces covered with grey emotionless mask nailed into their heads. They made no noises, and had no sight. They had long since stopped being human, their bodies supported off the curse of the great goddess alone. The curse which morphed their bodies into creatures rather than beautiful woman. All twelve of them surrounded the Master's chair, all dressed in tattered grey dresses, their clawed hands petting each other and the feet of the woman before him. Their long stringy hair catching in the claws occasionally.

"My sweet boy, did you get what I asked of you." Rolan handed the woman the folder before getting to his knees before her. "Her name is Seras Victoria, she is one of Hellsing's pets, and fledging to Alucard." The woman's face lifted upon hearing The No Life King's name. "So, this is what Alucard looks like, No? Well, I guess I'll just have to try harder." Rolan's eyes became wide, "Ma'am, you would venture against the Devil himself." The woman with the long hair pulled another picture of Seras out. She was standing with the book in front of a desk. A woman with long blonde hair sat at it, a cigar in one hand. "In order for our plans to continue in the name of the Great Goddess, we must bring down the order who will no doubt stand in our way." Her hands came up to her face, stiletto fingernails gracing her cheeks. "Think of this as killing two birds with one stone, Hellsing will fall, and I... will gain my thirteenth doll." Her wicked laugh resounded deep from her diaphragm, "What's more, she'll be stronger than any other I've made, a challenge so to speak, I've never made a doll out of a nosferatu before."

Rolan felt the seeds of dread sprout through his stomach, and into his long dead heart. "Rolan darling, I want you to watch over our future sister. See what she's like, bring me any details you can regarding her... Power."

"Yes Ma'am", he left in a hurry, his short legs taking him far away from the girls. The woman sat upon her throne, the statue of the Goddess towering over her chair. "Seras Victoria, hmmm. Just you wait my precious. Soon, you'll be all mine."


	5. The New Freaks

"Gentleman, welcome to the Hellsing Organization. You have been hand selected by her Majesty's advisors, and have passed countless test to stand where you are. You are some of the best soldiers this country has to offer. I congratulate you on your strength, and the courage you have all shown through these trials." The man at the front of the room adjusted his stance, feet shoulder width apart, his sandy hair brushing his eyebrows. "You have one more evaluation, this evaluation will put you into one of two Units. Unit one is ran by myself, and Unit two is ran by our Senior officer, Captain Victoria."

A murmur spread down the lines of men. James surveyed the lines of seated men, each face was new and fresh. They may be some of the best, but they were barely out of their twenties. The average age being 33, and barely any of them looked to be Unit 2 material. Poor Seras was going to be disappointed. James continued looking down the lines till one man in the front, a man of maybe 35, with brown hair and scruff along his jaw raised his hand. James nodded his head toward the man signalling for him to speak, the rest of the room falling silent. "What is the difference between the Units, and why is this Captain not here."

James put his hands into his pockets, his posture relaxing. " Unit one is used as defence for the manor. They do not leave unless the situation is dire. Unit two on the other hand is the, shall we say, elite group. They are the ones who go on missions, their primary job is to be a perimeter around zones of interest. Further detail shall be given to those who make it in." James's looked over the hall to his left, the small figure just barely noticeable in the shadows. "For your other comment, the Captain of Unit two is found to be "Off Putting" for some." None of the soldiers missed the mirth that laced his comment. An air of tension filling the room. "The Captain will be made present to those who make it into Unit two. From there those who make it can decide if they wish to remain or be transferred to Unit one. Now if there are anymore questions, I will call this adjourned." No one raised their hands, all questions being answered. However, a few of them noticed the lack of pronouns used when referring to this Captain Victoria. Curiosity peaking their interest, but not enough to voice the question. The use of he and she had been left out for reasons, and the few who noticed realized it was probably for good reasons.

James started with a clap of his hands, "Well, if their is nothing else left to say. I will leave you till tomorrow. Evaluations start at 8 o'clock sharp, tomorrow night. I wish all of you the best of luck." With this each of the men left the room, orderly lines leaving the great hall from the back double doors. James though, left through the left hall. A small blonde and hopping along his side as he made it down the hall. Her faithful companion walking in stride behind him, his long braid wrapped around his shoulders. "Soooo, tell me. How many do you think will make it to my Unit." Electrical problems had left several of the halls on the first floor unlit. This being one of them, the only thing he could make out of the blonde were her eyes. Bright and shining in the dark of the hall. "To be honest Seras, I don't think many are going to make it." Seras could see his right hand come up to rub the back of his head, the dark having no affect on her sight, unlike her human companion whose steps were swerving down the hall. The small lamps giving barely enough light, or no light down the long halls. "Out of the fifty, I'm guessing 15 will be adequate enough to join, and out of them. I have no idea how many will be willing to stay."

Seras's demeanor changed for a split second. Her steps jolly bounce faltering. James knew it affected her, the looks, the rumors, the gossip. He knew it affected her more than she let on, but she would never tell. She would just keep her head held high and act like it didn't affect her. Her step was back within a glance, her cheerful smile back in place. "Tomorrow will be evaluation day, and after that we will have them separated within two days time." Her smile was wider than ever, only beaten by the red devil she called a Master. "Can't wait to see how it will turn out. What about you Captain." James had to think for second till he remembered the Frenchman behind them. He may not be a Captain anymore, but he was still referred to as one, at least by Seras he was." Pip seemed to stare at the ceiling for a second, before pulling a cigarette magically out of nowhere. "I wasn't to impressed from this year's lot. I think only 7 will be inducted into our Unit." Seras seemed to digest this for second. Bernadotte was almost always on the money with the number, or at the very least close to it. "Seven seems like an okay number. At least it's not five, or four or some other smaller number."

James saw the stack of paperwork in the former Captain's hand, needing to speak to Integra anyway he led the way to the Iron Maiden's office. Seras's chirping sounding the whole way, with the occasional laugh or comment from the man behind him. They were just down the hall from the office when the house took on an oppressing feel. The air itself seeming to crawl with malicious intent. Jack stopped in his footsteps, the blonde beside him bumping her side into him. Her face had taken on the worried look, but nevertheless she continued on, now leading the group with Pip and James walking beside her side by side.

Seras opened the door to the office, moving out of the way quickly as pieces of shattered glass came skidding into the hall. "Well, you've really outdone yourself Master, two ashtrays in two days." She walked into the office with no problem, her steps slowing slightly as she reached the figures on the other side of the room. Pip continued in behind her, his step seeming a uncertain, but continued on no matter. James however, stopped in the doorway. His eyes glued to the scene in front of him. Integra was fuming, she was standing over her desk. Hands to either side, body rigid with unleashed fury. This was a sight he had seen a few times, what stopped him was the man standing in front of her. Body leaned over to stare at the woman in front of him. His hair was a long black, obscuring most of his face from view. He sported a long red duster, that looked to have come out the victorian era. James plodded into the room. His weariness to enter showing in his step. He made it halfway before the figure stood to his full height. James stopped in his tracks, the dark air had diminished upon their, no Seras's arrival, but the man before him still gave off a dark aura. An aura that set ever instinct and sense he had into overdrive. The urge to get the hell away from this man was strong, and he had no idea why Seras was so comfortable with going up to him, didn't she realize how dangerous this man felt.

He looked on in awe, the moment Seras reached the scene all malicious intent seemed to diffuse. She continued on with a smile as she walked around the desk to Sir Integra's side. Pulling the pushed back chair back to its owner. Integra shook her jacket straight, shoulders moving up before going back to a comfortable position. She took her seat at the desk, all the while Seras straightened the once neat stacks of paper on her desk. Pip picking up the ones that landed on the ground. James's eyes landed back on the man in red. The man had straightened to his full height. His height alone an intimidating size. His hair had magically shortened, and the air had toned down to a breathable atmosphere. 

Seras picked up a hat and glasses off the table, handing them to the man in red. He turned his body towards the door, his face still obscured by his hair. He reached out and picked up the items she presented, his other hand reaching up to run through her hair. James was captivated by the scene, that was until the man's face came into view. His eyes locking with James's. Eyes that reflected the depths of Hell met his own, sending shivers down his spine. He couldn't have moved even if he wanted to, he was rooted to the spot. "Thank you, My Seras Victoria." He said this all the while looking him down. James had never felt so small.

It all came into picture quickly. This must be her Master, The Alucard. He had heard many things about him, and very little of it had been good. He could see the ill intent in his eyes. If James had ever thought of trying to get with the blonde it was crushed right there. Those words were obviously a warning, to him in particular, and he had no intention of going against them. Seras either oblivious or ignoring the situation looked over to James, her own Sanguine eyes meeting his. "James will you please get another ashtray for Sir Integra. Preferably one that will withstand abuse, and Pip will you please bring Integra some tea." Pip vanished immediately to carry out the order. His only response a comment in French he could not understand. James tried to smile, but it was hard when the eyes of the Monster she called a Master were still staring him down. Pelting his dignity deeper into a metaphorical hole. "Yes, right away!" He kept his cool until he had closed the door, but the trembling would not stop. He started at a walk, but it turned into a light run, anything to get far away from the Monster of the Manor. "Damn, I lost my nerve... I swear I won't next time." Even though he wanted to be confident, even his internal voice sounded shaky.

The glass was cleaned up in no time, and within ten minutes everyone was settled, and ready to speak civilly to one another. Seras had pulled up a chair to sit in front of the large desk. Her Master choosing to stand rather than sit. Integra folded her hands in front of her, taking a long deep breath before pulling out a cigar and lighting it. Two more inhales later, and one ash into the new plastic ashtray, she was ready to talk.

"I have some good news, and I have some bad news." Her eyes went up to the standing servant, eyes almost challenging him to talk on the matter. "Good news is, a friend of mine was able to push the body we recovered yesterday to top priority, and did the autopsy early this morning. I received the results just after 8 this morning." This was indeed good news, there would be no wait, "So what's the bad news." Seras's body straightened in her chair, back stiffening in anticipation. Integra bowed her head once before raising it again, "There was no chip." Seras's face became quizzical, "He was shot in the head, can't we have someone check the inn over again, see if it was left in the gunk on the floor." Integra's face became grave, "I don't mean it wasn't there, I mean he didn't have one to begin with... None of them have." Seras's face became grave, "But he wasn't a true vampire, he smelled like a human. Even the blood that splattered on my face when he was shot tasted like a human's. How could it not be a chipped vampire." Integra ashed the end into the ashtray, her hand raising in front of her as she talked, "We do not know how they have acquired this ability, but due to the absence of a chip I'll be labeling in the registry as the work of true undead." Seras face reddened, her hands balled in her lap, "I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but even the weakest of true undead are not that pathetic. The man couldn't even make a decent ghoul, to have him down as True undead is an insult to the rest us."

Integra drew another breath from her cigar before extinguishing it in the crude ashtray. Then with a turn of the wrist she tossed a folder to Seras. It was bent on the corners and torn on the side. She could easily see who did that, her eyes gazing up disapprovingly up before turning back to the folder in hand. The first picture was the man's body. Mained and tattooed. "As you can see he is covered in scars, particularly on the back and chest. From the angle we are guessing they were self inflicted. As for the tattoos, each of them can be found in this book." The book was placed on the desk, pushed forward towards Seras. "They are binding symbols. Binding him to what I don't know, but I feel we'll learn what it is by further analyzing this book." Seras picked the book up off the desk, resting it in her lap as well as the folder.

Weariness could be seen in Integra's ice eyes. Not that she would ever voice it, but it was there nonetheless. "I agree with you, this man is not true undead, but until I have further information on what exactly he is I can not put him as anything else. Now, I have to return to filing these reports before bed, so please continue on the book. Internet and Library resources are always available. As for you." Her eyes turned up to the one lone standing figure. "I apologize." Alucard being is usual ass self gave a mocking laugh. "What?" Integra gripped the edge of her table, trying to keep herself from shooting him then and there. "I said I apologize, for the comment I made earlier. It was uncalled for highly unprofessional of me." Alucard gave a nod of approval, "I guess I apologize as well, for calling you a long nosed shrew." and with that he walked out of the room, not another word spoken. Seras gave a small bow to Integra bidding her good night.

The library was always peaceful, whether it was night or day it was always the picture of tranquility. The musty smell of old paper, the lowly set lighting, everything about it set Seras in a state of mind to relax. Everything, besides the man who was sitting behind her still miffed about an argument she had not had the enjoyment of hearing.

After she had went through the book the night before, several symbols had stood out to her. As well as several keywords spread out throughout the text. During the day Integra had comprised a list of words and phrases that had not made sense. Not that they made anymore sense together. They, like the paragraphs they were in, were in a different language. One neither her nor Integra was familiar with. She would have asked Alucard, but he seemed pretty intent on remaining in a foul mood. "What on earth was it about? The Freaks?" So currently she stood on a step stool reaching for books. Her Master no doubt laughing in amusement behind her. She was a few inches short of the shelf she needed. Her tip toes only getting her there apart of the way. And it was making her uncomfortable with how short her skirt was, if only she could use her shadows on such delicate objects.

Alucard was trying to stay in his mood, but that was hard to do when such a hilarious sight was before him. His little police girl on her tiptoes trying her best to reach a book she was still a good 4 inches from reaching, and with her skirt already being so short, it was giving him quite the view. His eyes wondered over the creamy flesh between her stockings and the hem of the skirt. Smooth, spotless skin that sinfully stood out against the innocence he knew she still had. His eyes had been quite content looking her over till her clumsiness almost sent her sprawling, sadly she grabbed the shelf and regained her balance in the nick of time.

"You know you can just grab them with your extensions right?" The mocking tone was not lost on Seras. She knew the tone all to well. "Yes, but some of these books are quite fragile, I don't want to take the chance of damaging them in anyway. You've seen the paperwork I give Integra." He had seen the paperwork, he knew full well what they did to objects. If a normal human were to touch her shadows, even when they took the shape of an arm, it would feel like tiny paper cuts across their skin. Solid objects were fine, but thin or delicate ones not so much. If painted the paint would be scratched, if it were paper it would tear easily. It may be a useful arm to have, but some of the cons outweighed the pros. Especially when dealing with objects that were already aged and worn. She could handle objects, but everything she touched had to be handled with care to avoid the above mentioned.

That being said, she used her shadows as a ladder of sorts, climbing up them grab the book, then climbing down and forming the shadows back into an arm. She then walked over to the table and took the chair across from Alucard. Sending a disapproving look towards his boots on the table.

They sat in comfortable silence for about an hour, the list of misplaced words growing longer and longer on the piece of notebook paper, but none of it was making anymore since. It wouldn't, not unless she could get Alucard to translate the languages she could not read. "Ugh this is getting bothersome."

"Well you could always just ask." Seras looked across the table. Her mind had been open and he had read what she had though, and the tone he used when amused or mocking had not left. She knew he was up to no good.

"I guess I could, would that person happen to be you?" She laid her head on her hands, book between her elbows on the table.  
"Maybe" His hands came up, as if he was inspecting something on his pristine gloves.  
"Master Alucard"  
"Hmm" He looked over to see her arms crossed, an action he thought she knew by now only accentuated her already large bust.  
"May you please translate the passages."  
"I might, if you ask nicely enough." Seras could see where this was going.  
"What, you want me to beg." Alucard's lips formed a wide smile wide across his face. "Will you?"  
Seras could not, to an extent, believe what she was hearing. He wanted her to beg!  
"I will have you know I do not beg, for anything, especially from a man."  
Alucard's feet came off the table as he leaned in towards her in the small space. "What did you say?" The smile had not left his face.  
"I said, I...Do...Not...Beg." Each word enunciated as she leaned forward in her seat. Their faces still a good distance away from each other. "Well, you sure about that?"  
The implied innuendo hung thick in the air. Seras's face flushing slightly before composing herself again. "So that's how he wants to play. Okay then, I'm all in."  
"Yes, I'm sure." As she said this the book was slid over to him. Her body leaning more forward.  
"How sure." He just slid it back to her, his own body coming forward to meet hers.  
"Very sure."  
"And why's that." By now there faces weren't but a breaths length away, their eyes meeting head on.  
"Because, I don't have to beg for what I want. It's always the otherway around." The last part was said in a whisper, and His eyes lit up at hearing it. His mouth was partially open, smile gone as he realized he had nothing to come back with. Instead a look of shock took its place. She had not only taken on his taunts, but met them head on. He was so shocked he hadn't even realized the book was pushed in front of him, along with the paper and pencil. By the time he had came to she was leaned back in her chair, the book form earlier propped up in her arm as she read.

A silence fell over them again as they were both absorbed in their studies, and Alucard once again lost in this thoughts. "Who the Hell are these other men?!" The question was boggling his mind. "She could have just said that to throw me off... but that's not like her? Maybe it's only one, or maybe just a few? His mind was settled for a second and back on the reading before another thought struck him, "Wait, I thought she was still a virgin." Setting the book aside he stood and reached over the table, grabbing the back of her chair and pulling her forward so she was close enough to him. She immediately started shuffling as best she could away, having no idea what he was doing." "MASTER, What the bloody Hell are you-... Why are you sniffing me? Please stop." He sat back down in his chair, his face perplexed.

"You're still a virgin." Seras's hands went up to her head, her face confused and aggigated. "Yes, I am. You could have just asked this you know." His face became smug, triumphic for at least a second. "So you did just want to one up me." Seras had no idea what he was talking about, she thought about there previous conversation and it hit her. "Master, you can do things and still keep your hymen in check." The triumph left his face, this thought had not occured him. Mostly because when he started something he finished it, he didn't leave it at just foreplay.

Seras having felt molested by nose had to come up with someway to get back at him, her answer coming to her quickly as he pondered her last comment. "Besides, I never clarified whether it was man or woman." This had Alucard rolling on the inside. He didn't know why but the thought of her with another man, or woman as he just heard set him aflame inside. He had to know the answer.

"So what was it." Seras looked up from her book. "Don't you think that's a bit personal." He frankly didn't give a damn whether it was personal or not, he was dying to know. How many, who were they, what gender? It was eating at him.  
"Fine Quid pro Quo."  
"What?"  
"Quid pro Quo. I'll answer a question in exchange for an answer to something I ask you. Deal?"  
As much as he hated the idea, curiosity was leading his decisions.  
"Deal."  
"Okay, I'll go first. What were you and Integra arguing about."  
"None of your business."  
"Okay, then that is none of your business either."  
He couldn't believe what he was hearing, the girl had grown a backbone. Normally he would have dismissed this game entirely by now, but the information was to good to give up on.  
"Fine, she informed me about the freaks. I reacted much like you had, and she made comment that brushed me the wrong way. Then I in turn made one towards her that started an argument."  
The vague nature of the answer had Seras raising an eyebrow.  
"What were the comments."  
"Ah, but that is another question, Quid pro Quo right Seras?" Seras scrunched her nose, but nodded her head for him to continue.  
"Have you ever been with a woman?" Seras laughed, she had expected the question to arise.  
"Yes."  
"What did you do?"  
"Ah, Quid pro Quo Master." Alucard scrunched his face, his answers would take forever.  
"What were the comments made." Alucard set his face on his hand, book forgotten to the side, not that he needed. He had already finished his job.  
"I said a True Vampire would never be so pathetic, even you were better than that. And she in turn said, "Maybe they don't make vampires like they used to." I should have left her brash comment slide, but I instead told her to keep her long nose out of business that does not involve her. She made a comment about me being an eel, I told her to go back to doing whatever shrews like her does."

"You called Sir Integra a Shrew?!" Seras was surprised, and a little agitated. He would never let down that she was once pathetic.  
"Yes, now for mine. How far have you gone with a woman." He expected the comment had been to get a rise out of him, but he had been surprised before.  
"I was drunk, and it was at a New Year's Party. We didn't do anything really besides second base stuff. The only other time was when I was at the orphanage, I went through a phase and yet again did not go past second base, and before you waste a question asking no neither of them begged as far as I can remember."  
This did little to quell the burning in him, "So a man has touched her."  
"How many more times are we going to have to clean up broken items or shell casings off Integra's floor, or are you done for right now?" Alucard barked laughter at the question. "To be honest I hadn't intended to piss her off today, but just because of her comment I plan on making a few trips to her office, maybe even during the day." Seras raised her eyes at him, "So you would waste sleep just to piss her off." He smiled in return, "Done it before." Seras laid her head on the table, sighing into her arms before raising her head up on her hand mimicking her Master.

"So, how far have you been with a man." Seras looked at her master. "Is this how the rest of the questions are going to be like?" He just shrugged his shoulders as an answer. "Okay, with many of them it has only been kissing and gropes, but there was the one I made it to third base with." Many of them! Alucard had to know just how many this was. How many he would be imagining dead. Before he could ask she raised her hand, "Sorry but I have no more questions to ask, we can continue this another time, I have to say it was fun." Alucard had the mental image of strangling her. "Leave me on a question like this I swear-"  
"But I will say that many is not as many as you think. Only eight, and I've only ever gone to third with one. And if you ever get the chance to meet him you can kill him, as long as I don't get to him first." His fire was put out immensely upon hearing this. "Only one, and I'm allowed to kill him, best news I've heard all day." Seras gave a small laugh as she stood and walked over to his side, her eyes looking over the terms on the paper. Now that they had the terms translated they finally had something to go off of.

"Oh Night Mother, the one with seven names, defile the flesh, take your power for yourself, and besiege the men who tie the down."

Seras looked over to Alucard, "The one with Seven Names. Who has seven names?" Alucard waved to the rest of the paper his hand motioning for her to continue.

"zu-gu-tur-ra-am nang-ush e-ne-ne, me-en-de mu-za-e-pa  
Labartu, nin-gal-dim-ki, zi-kar-am u-tur, ge-nu-ki  
Dimme, nig-sur, mi-dumu Anu, hul-ma-dinir mu imin, me-en-de mu-za-e-pa  
mi-ur-am, um-ma imin nang-ush-am gitah-su-gu-am, ge-nu-ki"

Seras glanced over what looked like random mumblings. Not understanding their semblance, "English Translation."

she who bites children with her fangs and drinks their blood, we invoke you.  
terrible demoness, who steals the life of sleeping children, come unto me.  
Dimme, fierce lioness, daughter of Anu, evil goddess with seven names,  
we invoke you.

Seras closed the book and pulled a chair up next to her master, her head laying on the desk. "Well, I guess there's one good thing." Alucard's hand came up to brush the hair from her face, "and what would that be." Seras lifted her head, all of Alucard's work destroyed down as her hair fell into her face, "Whoever they were worshipping is the Daughter of Anu, whomever that is." They both fell into a silence, but Alucard could tell something bothered Seras. "What is bothering you, your mind is elsewhere." Her hand came up, brushing the hair from her face as Alucard had earlier, "There not True are they, True Nosferatu." Alucard's hand came down t pet her head, "No, they are nothing." They stayed like that for awhile their minds elsewhere as the first morning rays appeared in the night sky.  
*****  
Somewhere far away  
*****  
In country far from England, away in a land of desert and sand. Lays an underground temple.  
In this temple a woman sits in a chair made of stone. A statue of a great goddess towering over her throne.

"Dear Mother, I am sorry." The room is silent, the only other occupants muted servants. "I am sorry to ask this of you, but I am facing a great foe. In order for our plans to work, I will have to crush this foe beneath our feet." She paused for a second, her hands running through her black hair. "I know I fake my competence to Rolan, but in truth I am terrified. I ask for your strength Mother. Please, I beg of you. Give me the strength to carry our your unholy task. Please give me one of your nightmares, where I may see the path that must be taken.

In a country far from England, away in a land of desert and sand. Lays and underground temple.  
In this temple a woman sits in a chair made of stone. A statue of a great goddess with a Lion's head and donkey's teeth, nurses a piglet and a puppy, one at each breast. Her body deformed, like the people she governs.


	6. A pleasant Invitation

"Mummy, Mummy!"

"Where am I? Is this a dream?" Alucard's mind was foggy, his body lighter than air. He looked around at surroundings he did not recognize. It was a closet, coats lining the rail beside him. Was this beside him? He didn't know, he felt like he was nowhere, yet everywhere in audience to the scene before him. Vampires did not have regular dreams, only memories they have lived through. This wasn't one of Alucard's memories, so it could only be one others.

The door to the closet was opened by a woman with long blonde hair. Her face was grave, and he could see the terror in her eyes, but only confidence and self-assurance were seen in her stature, as she ushered a scared small child into the closet. She laid her hands on the small girl's shoulders, a girl with short spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes. "Listen to your Mum, stay in the closet. Please, don't come out of it, no matter what." The small child reached toward her mother, tears streaming down her face. "Ah, Mummy, Mummy."

Alucard wanted to look away, he was not privy to such personal matters. He knew Seras would not want him seeing her in such a weak state, but he couldn't seem to tear his eyes from her tiny form. She was not very old, probably only five. The age she was orphaned. He didn't know how it happened, he had never asked. Most of her past was a mystery to him, he liked it that way. The excitement of not knowing was thrilling, but now, he was learning.

His thoughts were pulled back to the dream as the sound of gunfire could be heard, little Seras letting out a yelp. As the gunfire came to a halt, Seras moved one foot forward. Her hand coming up to the door. Alucard put his hand up to his forehead, much like one would do if stifling a headache. "Why didn't you stay inside the closet, idiot?" She pushed the door opened soundlessly, and peered out into the room. All the color drained from her, she stopped crying, she stopped everything.  
***  
He was jolted from the dream, awaking him with a start. His mind clearing the fog as he shook the sleep off. He shouldn't have seen that, but he had. Her mind's block had come down in her sleep, and he had accidently been let in. It wasn't the first time. He had seen plenty of her dreams, the night he turned her, memories from her time as a policewoman, and on rare occurrences he saw her at the orphanage. A bitter, angry child who constantly got into fights with the bullies and other children. He had wondered what could happen to make a child so hateful, so rageful towards the world, and how that child was the same woman he knew now. Well now he had seen, a glimpse what happened. He didn't know the full story, but he was sure eventually he would learn it. Until then he could only guess what she had seen on the other side of the door. He could have glimpsed if he had wanted, but he had been too caught up, gazing at the face of the girl in the closet. He had seen the beginnings of the switch. The switch from the happy and soft hearted child, to the child he had seen in the orphanage. She had been in shock, but her eyes had spoke wonders. He could see it still, the horror, terror, hysteria; and behind them the forming of rage and revenge.

The buzz of activity in the bond told him Seras was up. It was still an hour till it was time to get up, yet both of them were wide awake. He opened his senses and listened to the mansion above. The lessening footfalls as the day staff took their leave, clinks of tableware as the kitchen staff worked to clear the remnants of dinner earlier served, and then there was Seras. She was already up and on her way to Integra's office. She stayed in their for a few minutes, and then left down the stairs to the ground floor. She entered the kitchen and made her way to the less occupied area, the small enclosed space off to the side where their freezer was kept. Only three blood packs were pulled out, two were for him no doubt, and both were placed into a pail of warm water, her own was not.

He waited for her to arrive, watching as she gave a very false smile to everyone she passed. Their own fake as well as they cleared the hall for her, but without a care she gave them sweet smiles and friendly nods despite the rude reactions. Within minutes she was outside his own chamber, and customarily paused before entering. Pail in hand, and her own pack in her other "hand". She sat the bucket on his table, going to take a seat on the ground in front of him. She stopped for a second, inspecting the floor, before using her tendrils to clean the spot before she took her seat, legs together and folded to the the side. A small smile playing at her lips. This had become routine with the two, she would arise and fetch their meal, then she would sit on the floor and both would exchange in small talk. Nothing major, just something to start the night off.

"The last of the evaluations are happening today for the new recruits. So, I might be a bit rushed after today for a few nights with paperwork." Alucard merely nodded his head in understanding. The back of his head was itching with irritation, Integra was not happy. He could feel it through the Servant and Master bond.

"You already talked to Master."  
"Mhmm." This being said while she was in the middle of a sip.  
"Anything of interest happen lately." Seras paused her eating for second. A slip of pink poking out to lick the corner of lips. "Well, I'll give you a head's up, Integra is in a bit of a mood today. So, I think it would be wise we both stayed out of her hair tonight and tomorrow." Alucard paused his own eating, the blood pack lowering from his lips, "Oh. Any particular reason." Light amusement played at his voice.

"She received a letter today from Chief Makube." She ended by taking a drink of her cold, stale blood.  
"Who?" She had forgotten he had not been here to receive that bit of information, "Chief Makube is Enrico Maxwell's successor. He is the head of Iscariot." A light clicked in Alucard's eyes, Seras too tired to think properly ignored it for now. "So what is it the Iscariot Organization wants." Now Seras couldn't ignore it, he was getting mischievous. "He would like to meet with Integra tomorrow to discuss matters of concern, it's probably going to be about the grimoire we got from Heinkel." Alucard finished off his first blood bag, putting it in the pail before clapping his hand together. "So you were right, Iscariot does know more than they're letting on. How perceptive of you." Seras finished off her one bag, reaching up to place it in the pail with the trash, Alucard working on his second bag. "Yes, well. Anyone with half a brain could have guessed that, when are they not keeping us in the dark about something."

After Alucard finished his last pack Seras placed the container on the floor beside her. "I see you still keep the Frenchman around." Seras looked up from her lap, her tired eyes meeting ones that looked almost as tired. "Yes, he's been a good friend over the years. One of the only people I can rely on."  
"Is that so, and who else would happen to be on that list?" Seras laid down on the floor, her legs swinging in the air as she laid on her stomach. "Well there's Integra, Pip, and you, as well as James."

Alucard lifted an eyebrow, "James? Don't believe I know who that is."

"Captain Wright, everyone calls him James because he hates formalities. You met him yesterday, and then promptly scared him off." Seras looked up from her arms to give him a scolding look, "You didn't have to do that you know, he's harmless as a fly." Alucard gave a low laugh, Seras merely crinkled her nose at him. "It doesn't matter, he still needs to learn his boundaries. He's a human, a True Vampire is completely out of his range of grasping." Now it was Seras who was laughing, leaving a minorly confused Alucard to guess what was going through her mind. "Him! He learned years ago that I'm out of his league. He can dream all he wants, but as I've told him I do not find humans to be attractive partners."

Alucard seemed pleased by the response, and both of them fell into their usual comfortable silence, him filling a glass of blood and wine, and her drawing in the dust on his floor. "You know, cleaning is not the worst thing in the world."  
"No, you're right I can think of a million other things, but why clean when I have someone who can do it for me." She stopped her drawing to look up him.  
"I may be willing to do a lot for you, but be a personal maid is not one of them." She stood up with a spring in her step, her demeanor from earlier transformed to her usual cheery self. "Now if you don't mind, there is an angry woman upstairs who has been waiting for us to finish eating." Alucard smiled to himself, but stopped as he thought twice. Now there was a conundrum, he'd already pissed her off two days in a row. "I guess I'll be on my best behaviour today." Seras smiled, "I'm holding you to it." Then with that she was out the door, her frenchman appearing by her side, leaving Alucard to ponder whether or not to try again the next day.  
***  
Next Day  
***  
"Captain Wright, it is your duty to protect the house while I'm gone, Seras won't be here so staff should be on high alert protecting this estate is that understood?" Integra was standing in the front of the estate, giving final orders to the staff before their departure to the museum. Alucard and Seras were already in the back of the vehicle, Alucard with his full garb and Seras with her usual attire plus some sunlight protection. Alucard thought she looked ridiculous. Something he kept telling her as they sat there, he was pretty sure Seras was one more comment away from smacking him. Not that she would hit him, no she could just elbow him harder than she had earlier when he told her to go back to Dublin. He was using every stereotype he could think of on her.

"So, you golfing later I presume." He could see her right eye twitching behind her sunglasses, "I am not, this is a cute hat, it looks good on me, and there is nothing wrong with wearing a tweed hat." Alucard just looked her up and down, her entire outfit made him internally cringe, "Seras, there are several things wrong." The blonde's hand came up in exclamation, "Like What!." Alucard gave her an incredulous look, before simply holding up his hand and counting each thing off on his fingers.

"One, you're wearing a hat made for people who either golf or are balding."  
"It's a cute hat."  
"That I'm throwing away after this is done. Two, you're wearing sunglasses that manage to cover your eyebrows and touch your cheekbones, point is their huge and gaudy."  
"Well I didn't buy them for fashion, they were the only ones I could find that thoroughly covered my eyes, and if we're talking huge and gaudy please include your hat" He gave her a pointed look.  
"And last but not least that overcoat." Seras merely stared blankly at him, "What about the overcoat."  
"The offending item you're wearing is large enough to fit me, the material looks cheap, and it reaches 2 inches below your knees." Seras didn't speak for a second, even she didn't like the coat. "Well I had to have something that covered my arm up, it does the job doesn't it."  
"Yes, but I can name a dozen other things that would to."

Integra chose this moment to enter the vehicle, all conversation between the two stopped and not a sound was muttered. That was until Integra got all the way in and Alucard put his head between his hands, "I swear, if I could help it I wouldn't be seen in public with either of you two." Integra looked between the two across from her, "What the hell are you spouting off now, and Seras what are you wearing you look ridiculous. Is that a black tweed hat?" Alucard barked with laughter, laughing louder as Seras elbowed him. After he composed himself he continued on with what he was saying, "Master, your hat isn't any better. I swear the men in this compound have more fashion sense than either of you two." Integra could feel her trigger finger itching. I will have you know this is a very popular fashion. The hat in question was a deep blue, and the design was made to where it only covered half of the head. A veil fanning out onto the untouched side.

All conversation halted as the trio made their way to the museum. The only sound the soft purr of the engine. Of course, Seras was the first to break it. "So, what is the game plan Sir." Both vampires waited as Integra fished a cigar out of her pocket, both wondering how this one would meet its demise. Either it would be smoked down to halfway before being discarded or it would be broke in half and left in a trail like Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs.

"We'll meet by the painting of Wallachia, then afterwards myself and Makube will talk in the Cafe, it is your jobs to guard the area off, understood." Both assented in unison. All of them left to their own thoughts. "Please God, let's not have a repeat of last time."  
***  
The museum was quite, somber even. All the paintings in the great hallway they inhabited for the moment were all restorations. All the paintings the had before either completely destroyed, or damaged to some extent during the bombings. Ironically, at least to Alucard it was, the painting of The Battle of Wallachia had survived unharmed. The only one in the entire hallway that had remained perfectly intact.

Alucard had stuck around for a little bit, enjoying the awkward stares they got from people passing by, before growing bored and finding entertainment in the shadows. Relaxing and possibly taking a light nap. Seras wished she could do the same. However, her job required her to be alert. She had covered the building with her shadows, her security like system on full alert, and it required full concentration. Something she was finding harder and harder with the sun shining through the windows. Her hat was doing little to keep the sun off her face, her overcoat was doing nothing to keep the sweltering heat off of her. Not that anyone else was feeling particularly hot in the nice 60 degree weather, and her glasses were doing nothing to keep the sun from blistering her eyes. She was sure if she took the shades off the whites of her eyes would match the irises. And to top everything off, Makube had as great of timing as his predecessor, he was 2 hours late for a meeting he set up. At least Maxwell it had only been an hour, and she had been able to hide in the shadows. However, after the building had been remodeled, more windows had been installed, so shadows were not in the majority.

Sir Integra sat on a small bench across from the painting. Her suit leg riding up slightly as she shifted her crossed legs. Seras stood beside her, a small portion of her body finding refuge in the shadow of the side of a window. She took out a black handkerchief from her pocket, and wiped lightly at her skin. Any other color and the cloth would have been tinted pink by the light sheen of sweat she had to constantly wipe off. Luckily she had remembered to pack extra blood packs in the vehicle outsides ice tray. "Thank the rich for extravagant taste."

"You alright, Seras." Seras looked down to her right, "Yes, just a little hot Sir." Seras brought the collar of her coat up to around her cheeks, the skin feeling a little warmer than it should've. "That will get better with age I suppose." The younger woman nodded her head in agreement with her compatriot. The silence residing back over the place till Seras picked up on the arrival of a car outside the building.

"Sir, I believe they have finally arrived."  
"How many?" Sir Integra stayed sitting, finger fidgeting slightly as the need for nicotine arouse.  
"3. There is Chief Makube, a younger priest, and the regenerator Heinkel Wolfe."  
"Hmm, well be on your best behaviour. Do not strike first, but..." She broke off as temptation overtook, and she pulled out a cigar but left it unlit.  
"But..." Seras glanced down, her unseen eyes imploring her to continue.  
"If she strikes first, put the dog in its place. Deal."  
"Deal." Both walked to the middle of the hall awaiting the arrival of the trio in question.

They arrived a whole 15 minutes later, stopping at every painting that caught Makube's eye, but they finally arrived at the designated point. A miffed Integra and a slowly cooking servant greeting them.  
"And here I thought you'd be punctual. I thought we agreed on noon, not two in the afternoon." The melting Seras beside her comically nodded her head. Integra's voice holding restrained venom, but as restrained as it was it still leaked out, tensioning the air around the already fragile meeting. One wrong move could easily start a fight, much to the delight of three of the people there.

"I'm sorry, allow me to apologize. I mean no trouble, the art pulled me in along the way."  
"Yes, well. We'll have no more of that. Follow me." The older woman turned toward the hall leading to the cafe, but not before turning towards Seras. "And Seras, remember what we talked about." The smaller blonde shook her head yes quickly, her cheerful demeanor standing out against the exhaustion written all of her features.

The party walked down the hall, Integra and Makube in the lead, the younger priest walking between and between the front duo, and Heinkel and Seras walked in the back behind their respective leader. The iscariot member glaring daggers at her smirking Hellsing counterpart.

Before long they had arrived at the patio outside the museum, Integra and Makube entered while the other three made a line against the door. Seras in the thankfully shady corner. All would have been well, except the young priest had taken the other corner, leaving Heinkel in the middle.  
***  
"Tea please, I won't be eating anything."

"I'll have the coffee, plenty sugar, and plenty cream please."

They had only just sat down, and already she was wanting to shoot the bastards smiling, droopy eyed expression. The only thing holding her back was the thought of having to deal with the rest of the vatican. The last thing she needed was a war between the two.

"You arranged this meeting, but never told me exactly what we would be discussing." Makube shrugged one shoulder, a case lifted with the other arm onto the desk. "Ah, should have known you would be straight down the business." He folded his hands on top of the briefcase, posture relaxed.

"Recently, our two organizations, had a, say, falling out." Integra nodded, he was obviously referring to the fight between their subordinates. "During the altercation, your servant. The female servant, acquired a book of sorts. One we have been trying to find for sometime now."

They both paused as a waitress came by with their drinks. All conversation paused as they waited for unwanted ears to bug off. "Yes we did, and if you think we're giving it to you, then you've got another thing coming. Under no circumstances will I allow you to have that book." Makube lifted his hands up, "No, no, I would never ask you to give up what your servant won fair and square. No, I'm merely asking for a trading of information." Integra took sip of her tea, the hot liquid burning its way down her throat in a pleasing way. "What information are we talking about."

"Makube opened the briefcase, pulling out a stack of documents, and then laid them in the middle of the table. "It's nothing major, just let us in on what you know, and we will let you in on what we know. We'll tell you who this cultist group is, some speculated whereabouts, and you inturn will give us the name of the goddess in question. It's simple." Integra looked to the stack of documents. "Why do you need the name. Wouldn't you already have that." He shook his head in the negative, "No, you see. We have one of the books, and we have scoured our book from one end to the other, no where is there a name or even a clue, but, we have a feeling your copy might have a clue of some sort."

Integra took another drink of her tea, her cigar from earlier between her fingers.  
"So all you want in return is the name."  
"Yes, and any information you're willing to give about your own book."

Integra pulled out a lighter, and lit the cigar she had been waiting on. The one inhale she took giving her the time she needed to think, "Alright, you go first."  
***  
"I'd hill you, if you din't looh soh ridihulus."  
"I'm sorry, can you repeat that. I don't think I understood you. Did you just say I look ridiculous."

The priest in the right corner was currently praying. Sweat pouring down his face as he backed himself further into the corner, he'd do anything to get away from this. It had started off peaceful, but then the vampire in the corner had said something to Wolfe, and from there it had escalated. He couldn't remember what had been said, but it was nothing that warranted what was going on right now.

He wasn't a strong man, the only thing strong about him was his faith. He was a meek man, who shied away form violence, and also shied away from people of the opposite sex. His mind not trusting his body. So, how was he supposed to react when two powerful woman were right in front of him arguing. One of them his scary as hell supervisor, and the other, as painful as it was for him to admit, a very attractive lady. A monster, but a rather attractive one who needed to wear more clothes. If anything a longer skirt, his eyes could only stay astray for so long, a man's will was only so great. He was positive this was a trial from God, and right now he really wasn't sure what to do, so he just backed himself up and prayed for the strength to get through it. However, it really wasn't working when he felt like eyes were watching him from everywhere. "Please God, help me through this trial, please give me the power to make it. Help me in anyway you see fit."

"I'm sorry, can you not take me seriously because of the hat, because quite frankly I don't give a damn."  
"It's everyfhing, now fhut some close on harlot."  
"Oh, wow, it almost like I've never heard that one before. Really be original, and for your information I'm not a Harlot."

The corner was only so big, and it was closing in fast. The rosary in his hand was giving him only minimal comfort now, he felt like an altar boy all over again, and he had no idea who the man in red standing against the wall on the other side was, but he looked ready to start taking bets.

"Stop making excuses to fight, if your gonna fight me just take a swing already."

The priest lifted his hands, it was his duty specifically to keep all physical altercations to minimum. He took a step forward, but it was worthless. Heinkel was already pulling back for the first punch, to the delight of both monsters in the room. "Dear God, please don't let me get demoted."  
***  
"About five years ago we came across a woman who said she was a child of the great goddess. Since then, more accounts have been appearing. And just this last year, cases of fake vampires, without chips. Of course we know, that could only mean they are human, no?" Integra nodded in his direction, already knowing what he was spouting off about.

"These 'vampires' only just started arriving for the past month in England. I do not know the extent they have grown in other countries." Makube nodded in understanding, "We too, do not know the extense of them, or their origin. What we do know, is it has something to do with this cult who call themselves the Children of the Great Goddess. Or in other cases they have called themselves Children of the Dark Mother."

"So this cult, how large do you recon they are." Makube tilted his hand from side to side, "Not very, probably less than a thousand. Maybe around 500, but anyway. On a mission on of our men came back with a book. It was not very long, but the writing was horrendous, and was in multiple languages. We finally had the book translated, and since then have learned more on the book series itself."

"You mentioned there were more than one. How many are there, do you know?"

"There is four in total. We believe the cult to have the first and second book, we have the fourth book, so you have the third book. Now will you tell me the name of the Goddess in the book."  
"Just one more question."  
"Yes."  
"Where do you believe this cult to be operating from." Makube leaned back in his chair, files going back into the briefcase.  
"Cairo, lots of activity has been coming out of the sands of Egypt." Integra stopped, face scrunching in confusion.  
"Is something the matter Sir Hellsing." She shook her suit jacket, straightening out her bearings.  
"Are you sure it's Egypt."  
"Yes."  
"But that would imply an Egyptian God."  
'Yes. Why is this the matter."  
"Because the God in the book is not Egyptian."  
"Oh." Makube's eyes opened for once, surprise showing through the loopy gaze. "Then what would it be."  
"The Goddess is named Lamashtu. It's a Mesopotamian Goddess."  
"Lamashtu you say, I don't believe I have ever heard of her."  
"She is a lesser known Goddess, said to be the rival of Pazuzu." She lit another cigar, her mind working at full speed. "Still, if your sources are true, why would they work out of Egypt, and not the land of old Mesopotamia?" The question was twisting her mind, although the civilizations were close in locations, it still didn't make since.  
"Well, that land is known for war, having a stable community of worship would be hard. It would make sense for them to move to a place with more peace, and desolate in location to keep prying eyes away."

Integra rolled the explanation over in her mind, it seemed sound enough, but the only way to know would be to send someone to check it out. Something she wasn't keen on doing after how many times it hadn't worked out in the past, particularly the one incident that ended with the Hellsing Organization being banned from Brazil. She stood from her seat, cigar hanging from her mouth as she shook hands with Makube.

"It has been nice, but I need to return. I assume correspondence will resume when needed." Makube nodded his head, stray hairs falling about. "Yes, Iscariot will continue to monitor catholic lands. I am sure you can handle your own, Protestant, countries." Although the tone barely changed, the same contempt could be registered as it was from every Iscariot member, as if the word protestant left a bad taste in their mouth.

Integra led the way to the entrance doors and Makube followed a short distance behind, but he stopped when she halted halfway through the door, cigar breaking and falling to the floor. He walked up to the entrance peering over the older womans shoulder, his calm exterior remaining in place as his blood boiled inside.

The scene would have been perfectly normal. Nothing was damaged, nothing was amiss, unless you counted the cross dressing nun and the lady in red standing awkwardly in the middle, the young priest beside them, hands up as if he was trying to block a throw in a game of basketball, and the maniac off to the side laughing more than was called for. Heinkel was in mid fall, the only thing keeping her from hitting the ground was the black mess of an arm holding her by her hair, and above her was Seras. While her one arm was holding Heinkel up, her other arm was cocked back ready hit the other woman. Both of them were a mess of limbs and torn clothes. Seras's glasses were broke and hanging off her head by one leg, her coat torn and dragging, and unfortunately her hat sat perfectly on her head untouched. Integra was half sure she'd protected her damned hat more than the rest of her.

She took one long breath, her posture controlled as she assessed the situation.

"Seras."  
"Yes, Sir." It was hard for Integra to take the situation seriously when Seras looked at her with the face of a perfect angel. Smile, doe eyes, the whole lot.  
"Who hit first?" Seras simply stuck her pointer finger out from her fist, finger pointing down at the currently pummeled holy woman. Her face the perfect image of an innocent young girl. It made Integra want to laugh, because anyone who didn't know her would think just that, that she was an innocent young girl who could do no wrong. "Good thing I'm not just anyone." She thought to herself.

Seras continued to smile, her innocent air not fooling anyone, although it was confusing the younger priest off to the side.  
"Seras, put the woman down." Seras looked down at Heinkel, her shoulders shrugging up as she released the woman to fall on the floor. She then turned around and walked over to stand beside the man who was still having too much fun with this.

"How is it after close to 600 years you find that much amusement in life... Maybe he's just losing it." The older woman thought.

Integra led the way out the museum, her servants following closely behind. A slight bicker starting to form behind her about the unfortunate occurrence that Sera's hat had not been destroyed. Apparently Alucard was threatening on keeping his word he made earlier, something about throwing it away. And to top it off every person they passed gave them curious looks, how could anyone not when all three of them looked ridiculous, not to mention the ages. It was bad enough when people mistook Seras for either her child or grandchild, and now she had Alucard to add to the mix. She really didn't want to know what they thought his relation was in all this.

"Heaven Almighty, I'm getting too old for this shit."


	7. Cairo

Planes were a mixed issue with Seras.

It wasn't that she was afraid of heights, although she was the last time she rode in one.

It wasn't that she was scared of flying, which would have been ridiculous since her favorite mode of transportation was soaring through the sky at high speeds.

No, the reason she disliked it was nothing related to that. Why she disliked it, was because she would be trapped, in a metal tube; and for most of the flight would be stuck in a wooden box, with no means of physically seeing her surroundings. Being locked in enclosed spaces was one thing, but when the enclosed space was a giant plane controlled by someone other than herself, someone she did not know, that was a different story.

So, it was no surprise that Seras was taking her sweet time gathering what she would need for the trip. They technically did not have to leave the estate for another hour, and she had every intention of taking up that entire hour. That did not however, keep Alucard from pestering her the entire time.

"We are only going to be their for a few days, if that, so of all things why are you packing paperwork."

Seras continued going through each document, laying the ones she planned on going over neatly into the carrier bag on the table.

"Because recruitment evals are all done, now I have to go through them and choose the ones I want for my Unit."

After each folder on the desk was gone through, she switched to the closet in the left alcove, it was small, but stuffed to the brim. She quickly went through and picked out an outfit. She folded it and placed it neatly in the carrier over the folders of evaluations, but the outfit didn't stay there long because Alucard immediately picked up the shirt, gave it a quick once over, and chucked it back into the closet and onto the floor.

"Why did you do that."

"Pick something different."

"What was wrong with that."

"Everything, if it has the word baby in the name of the color it does not need to be worn."

Seras huffed and crossed her arms, an action that Alucard would've told her was not for someone with her "Assets". If it wasn't for the fact he was male, and quite frankly enjoyed the view.

"And what is that supposed to mean."

Alucard took his feet off the table and walked to the closet, picking up the shirt in question, which was a baby blue turtleneck. He tossed it to the ground, nothing needed to be said on his part, his point was proven. So he sat back down at the table, boredom creeping in as she took her sweet time.

"You done yet?"

"Will this work?" He looked up from inspecting the non-existent dirt on his gloves to see Seras holding up a black and white striped long- sleeved cotton sweater. The fabric was hugging in a way he liked, but the collar was high, not quite a turtleneck but high enough to cover the entirety of her soft chest. The collar just reaching over her collarbones. It would do.

"Why not go for something lower cut." Seras finished zipping up the bag, her job finally finished. "Well one, were going into a predominantly muslim country, and I highly doubt that sort of dress would be liked." He nodded, she made a good point. "And two, I don't like showing my chest, it makes me feel uncomfortable."

Alucard just raised an eyebrow in question, his eyes traveling down to her mini-skirt. "So that's fine, but showing skin uptop is not?"

"Well, it's not like I picked this!" She went to the back of her door and grabbed her new jacket, since Heinkel so nicely ripped her other. Next was the hat Alucard had unsuccessfully tried to get rid of. He had tried to make good on his word, but she had been adamant about keeping it and he hadn't wanted to argue with her on the subject. It wasn't that he was accepting defeat, no he would never do that. Now he was thinking of ways it could "accidentally" be destroyed, and if it was destroyed by "accident". She would have to get a new one, and this time it would be something more attractive, not something associated with middle-aged old men.

"Damn, wish I had another pair of shades." Sunglasses had been something she hadn't bought just yet. A pair of brown contacts would have to do, but she would have to put them in later, as Alucard was already pushing her out the door.

Integra was ready to pull her hair out, and all the cigars and nicotine in the world couldn't settle her nerves.

One week had passed since the meeting with Chief Makube, and in that week Integra had been trying her damndest to get this mission underway, which wasn't nearly as easy as it had been in the past. Since Hellsing's mishap in Rio, getting clearance for overseas missions was incredibly difficult. Every little detail required some form of paperwork, and then that paper required a special document to be typed up and turned in with it, but in order to get the document another file had to be sorted first. All this for the clearance of one section. Paperwork may not have been Integra's least favorite thing in the world, but it was when one grant for financial assistance to pay for lodging took twelve different forms, as well as several letters and phone calls.

For one week straight she had stayed up filling out release forms, consent forms, insurance forms, and every other form imaginable that ended up on her desk. Forms for grants to pay for lodgings and food, forms to pay for media suppression, and her all time favorite, documents having to deal with collateral damage, and the ungodly amount of insurance that would have to be paid. The insurance rates alone were high enough as it was, but they had not only doubled, but quadrupled upon seeing Alucards name in the forms.

Integra sat back in her seat, pinching the bridge of her nose as she did so. They had left not long ago at noon, soon they would be boarding a plane to take them to Cairo directly, a flight that could take upwards of five or more hours. Till they called saying they made it without a hitch, she would be on edge.

She reached into her desk and pulled out her cigar case, one lonely cigar met her gaze. She would have to remember to get more soon if she was going to survive the next few nights. Their mission was simple: They would there for two days and three nights including tonight, they were to scout the city, and try and find any leads on the cultist group. Then again the last mission they had been on together had also been a straightforward mission, and look how that turned out.

She leaned back in her chair, the last cigar of the pack lit and being inhaled. If they mission went underway without a hitch, Integra decided she would do something of a celebration of sorts for herself. With only half staff on duty that night, it would be quiet, and she wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity. She eyed the bottom drawer of her desk, reserved for special occasions. If the night started off with no problems, she would relax; and the way to relax was the same for every Hellsing since the great Abraham Van Hellsing, and in the history of the great lineage, no Hellsing could ever relax without one or both of the following objects: either a cigar or a nice stout drink, and in the spirit of the night Integra planned on enjoying both in equal amounts.

Seras had been right, after five hours of being cooped up her nerves were frayed. The streets were crowded, and every heartbeat and breath was being amplified by the masses of people surrounding them. Even being in a taxi was setting her ablaze. Her contacts were burning her eyes, and with no sunglasses she was having to rely on her hair to shield her from the vile rays. Her hat did little more than shield her scalp. Overall, she felt the same way she felt every time she went out in the sun, miserable.

Both her and Alucard were, as well as the blonde captain sitting beside her. Poor James was squished against the window, much to Alucard's delight. But Relief was up ahead for the trio, The Nile Ritz-Carlton Hotel was within sight. Floors upon floors of hotel rooms, and their destination was the top, hopefully their stay would be longer than the last time they stayed in a hotel together.

James toppled out of the vehicle, his lungs relishing the fresh air. Seras stepped out over him, her hand coming up to shield her eyes. The truck with their coffins pulled up behind them, men personally chosen by Seras to accompany the three of them came spilling out. Their jobs were simple: scout, relay information, and guard the two vampires while they slept.

"Top floor men, follow us." Seras waved the men over, all of them on edge as they handled the coffins, especially the group with the black coffin. Alucard was eyeing them, just begging them to screw up. Seras led the way into the hotel, elegance surrounding her.

"Integra really didn't have to do this."

"She didn't, but it's nice is it not?"

Alucard walked up beside Seras. His steps shortening to stay instep with her shorter gate. "Seras take care of the check-in."

"Yes Master." She stepped up to the front desk, her eyes covered by a layer of blonde hair. "Hello, I'm here to check into the penthouse." The boy behind the counter seemed nice enough. Fake smiles and false senses of sincerity, just like every other bellboy at a hotel.

"Yes, what is your name Miss."

"Osborne."

The boy went through a registry looking for the name. "Ah yes, A Mr. and Mrs. Osborne. Thank you for staying at our establishment. If there is anything we can do to make your Honeymoon stay better, please let us know."

"Wha-!"  
"That will be fine."

Seras's face was flushing, once they got back Integra was going to get a piece of her mind, she could already imagine Integra sitting behind her desk holding back laughter with a cigar hanging out her mouth.

"Umm, Sir. Sir, your luggage is unusually large."  
"It's fine."  
"But, we cannot be responsible, or allow such-"  
"Seras."

Seras pushed the hair out of her eyes, the red globes entrancing the man across the counter, her hand coming up to towards his face.

"Everything is okay."  
"Everything ...is okay."  
"Everything is going to be fine."  
"Everything... is going to be... fine."

Seras put her hand down, everything seemed to have worked out. Until he shook his head and grimaced at her.

"Oh, Bloody Hell!." She sighed and put her head into her hands.

"Ma'am, we can't allow-"

"Really Policegirl. Lead the men to the room, I'll finish this."

"Sorry Master, I did tell you it only works half the time." She waved the men on, and walked to the elevator. By the time the second coffin was up to the top floor, Alucard and joined them.

"Red and the Angel have arrived, I repeat Big Red and The Crimson Angel have arrived. They are staying at the Ritz- Carlton Hotel. Commence Phase One."

Within ten minutes the coffins had been set in the living area, and all twenty-five soldiers had taken their post. Afterwards James had retired to his own room on the first floor, leaving Alucard and Seras alone uptop. The penthouse sitting room was lined with one wall of windows. A perfect view of the Nile with its glistening waters, and the surrounding city with it's false lights could be seen from behind the glass barriers. A couch and two recliners set in front of the windows, perfect placement to enjoy the view, and the current seating of the two vampires.

Alucard rested in one of the recliners, sunset was still a half-hour away, and he had nothing to do. After everyone left Seras had immediately taken her contacts out, drawn the curtains, laid down on the couch, and promptly fell asleep. The room was quiet, the bustle of city streets a quiet hum below, he should have been able to sleep himself, but alas he couldn't find rest. Leaving him to his own thoughts.

He should have been chastising the girl beside him for failing to hypnotise a weak human, but he couldn't find it in him to get on to her. As simple as it looked, it wasn't the easiest thing in the world. It required practice, and at Hellsing she more than likely did not get the chances for practice she needed.

"I'll need to work on that. Perhaps there is still time for me to mold her." He frowned at his own thoughts. The idea of molding her no longer appealed to him as it once did. He turned his head to the left, looking at the girl sleeping on the couch. Most people would have thought twice before so easily falling asleep in the same room as a monster. They would have barricaded the door and slept with one eye open, but not her. She was not like them, nothing like the vermin that crawled the streets below, and for this reason his hand was not needed to shape her. He could teach her, guide her in the ways of the nosferatu, but never mold her. She was more interesting this way, unique, and exotic. Never before had a he met a creature with such a variety of character, it amused and interested him. For the same reason he would not purposely watch her dreams, he would not lift his hand. What could unfold excited him, brought him a certain kind of pleasure unbeknownst till now. With his others he had failed, and where they failed she would not.

He drifted in and out for sometime, before deciding it was time to rise, reaching over the arms of chairs, he ran his hand through Seras's blonde tresses. Her body reacted to the touch and lifted up into it. She stretched, her body extending with a sigh of sleep left behind. Afterwards she remained lying down, her head snuggled into the overly expensive throw pillow. Eyes barely open enough to see the red orbs partially hidden behind long lashes.

"Five more minutes." If possible her body sank deeper into the couch. Expensive pillows pushing up around her. "Tonight is bound to be a beautiful night, why waste it drowning in cushions." Seeing as how rising her was going to be difficult, he lifted her head out of the pillows. With his hand under her chin lifting she had no choice but to sit up. Either that or be dragged up when his already little patience ran thin.

When she finally sat up all the way a blood bag was haphazardly thrown on to her lap. The bag felt cold and awkward against her bare skin. She snatched the offending object from her lap, and within seconds had drained the bag dry. As her Master pulled the curtains open he tossed another bag her way. This time she drank slowly, letting each sip sit on her tongue and slowly roll down her throat.

"So Master, what shall we do tonight." The man in question remained standing by the windows, mind in deep thought as he looked to the city below. His face grimaced as he turned around showing the rare face of displeasure. "This is going to be boring."

Seras frowned up at him, getting to her feet she walked over and stood beside him. Enjoying the view while listening to her unusually not mirthful Master.  
"Why is this going to be boring Master?" He turned his back to the window, long hair falling in front of his face for a second before the rebellious strands were tucked away.  
"I was hoping we would be attacked by now." Seras choked on her meal for a second. "You're bored because we haven't gotten attacked yet. Don't you I don't know want to enjoy the peace for a second."

He merely scoffed, "And what am I to do with peace."  
"Oh I don't know, enjoy it!. Seriously you've been back for all of what two weeks." She stood in front Alucard, shadowy hand on her hip as the other moved with each word. The scene reminded him of a mother scolding an impatient child, an amusing image indeed.

"Not to mention you've spent thirty years killing and butchering to your hearts content, after that doesn't a little while of peace feel nice." Both parties paused, neither of them speaking while the blonde waited for the old Warlord's answer. He gave the answer with a shrug of his shoulders and an unwavering smile

"I could have gone another thirty years."  
"... You're impossible."

Silence was a rare virtue at the Hellsing manor. A quarter of her troops were gone overseas, another quarter was off duty, and the other half was quietly patrolling the grounds. Both Seras and Alucard were gone, which left Integra plenty of time to relax by herself. Her only companions a new pack of cigars, a bottle of Remy Martin Cognac, and complete and utter silence.

Paperwork was done for the night, all finished documents were sitting in a tray to be sent out the next morning, and with nothing to keep her hands busy she instead turned to sitting back in her own personal thrown, the office chair. She sat there for what had to be several hours, wisps of smoke outlining her features before the great windows. None of the bulbs were on, so the only light sources in the room were the moon and the end of her cigar. Nothing could ruin this moment.

Ring Ring Ring

Nothing can ruin this moment. Not a thing in the world.

Ring Ring Ring

Not a damn thing.

Ring Ring Ring

This is why we can't have nice things.

"Who the hell are you, you realize it's three in the bloody morning. Can't this wait till tomorrow!" Silence met her from the other end, till finally a man cut down half his size from over the phone spoke up, his pride the only thing keeping him from withering under the tone of the Iron Maiden on the other end.

"Umm, well, umm-... you see, umm."  
"Start talking!"  
"Yes, Sorry Ma'am, I-I mean Sir. Yes Sir Hellsing, we-we have urgent news from Cairo." Integra snapped the short-lived cigar in her hand. Ashes tumbling down onto the previously clean desk.  
"What did he do?"  
"Ex- Excuse?"  
"What, did he do? What did that arrogant bastard do?" The tone in her voice was grave. They hadn't even been there a full night.  
"Actually, if you're-referring to Al- Alucard, this is not about hi-him." Integra was taken aback for a second. It wasn't about him?  
"What did she do?"  
"Noth-nothing, neither of them have done anything other than barhop."  
"Well what are you calli- wait did you say barhopping?"  
"Yes?"  
"As part of their mission?"  
"I th- think so? I'm not entirely sure."  
"What do you mean?" The room had finally started to die down in tension, but till she could go back to her drink and cigars it would remain.  
"It's mostly him dragging her aro- around to places." Integra sighed deeply, the beginnings of a headache stabbing at the top of her forehead, her drink would have wait.  
"Yes that's part of the mission. So, what did you call about?" The man on the other end paused for a second, almost forgetting the whole reason for calling.  
"Oh, right yes. Intelligence has confirmed the movement of Undead in the Nile region. Known active hideouts have come up empty, they seem to be making their way towards the city of Cairo." She stopped lighting the cigar in hand, all thoughts of having a relaxing weekend had gone out the window with those words.  
"Sir Hellsing?"  
"Call for reinforcements."

Integra already had an idea of what was to happen. Reinforcements would be needed, and not to help Alucard and Seras, they would only get in their way; but to block off the area to keep collateral to a minimum.


	8. Cairo Part. 2

10 Pm Eastern European Time

**************************************

The wind brushed against her skin, and the moon was shining high in the sky. It'd been awhile since Seras had been able to enjoy the night as she was now. The stars seemed to shine more here than they did in England, and with none of the city smog in the way they stood out like shining lights against a black backdrop. It truly was relaxing.

"Seras, are you even paying attention." She jumped a little at her Master's voice.

"Sorry Master, what were you saying" He sighed, "As I was saying, nothing has come up. I'm bored." He turned his head up to the sky as he walked, also enjoying the night sky.

"How can you already be bored, it's only ten."  
"And, your point is?"  
"Huh, impossible." Seras looked around, so far tonight Alucard had been leading them around, but it seemed he had run out of ideas.

Rounding the corner they came upon a nondescript building. A small pub between two larger buildings, tucked into the dark corner of the back alley. At first glance it seemed only to be a run down establishment, the only describing feature the name Stella on top of the large double doors. Seras looked up to her Master, his only response a wave of his hand to go on.

For such a small pub, the room was crowded with people shoulder to shoulder. The duo found refuge in a booth off in a corner. Away from prying ears and eyes, they could talk quietly if need be, and listen to the surrounding conversations easily enough.

Seras sent her shadows out to the dark crevices of the room. Every conversation, and every person could be seen and heard. Nothing would escape her wandering eyes. Alucard did the same to an extent, using his omnipresent powers he gave a quick once over the building and its occupants, nothing seemed out of place, unfortunately.

Each of them ordered their drinks, Seras a tomato juice, Alucard a glass of wine. Despite how crowded the room was, no one noticed as another content was added to his drink, and no one noticed the smaller blonde with him not touch hers at all.

"Master, how can you drink like that?"  
"Like what?"  
"You're always drinking."  
"and?"  
"How are you not drunk?" He gave a small laugh to her question. His hand rising to push back up his glasses, lest someone see the devilish orbs behind them.

"Who says I'm not." Seras raised an incredulous eyebrow, "I know your not."  
"How do you know, maybe I'm just that good at hiding it."  
"Hang overs must be a bitch then." This earned her another smile.  
"Don't become sober, then you won't have hangovers." She shook her head at him, never a serious answer with her Master.

They finished their drinks shortly after, and walked out the doors to leave. Once again Seras was entranced by the sky, each star and constellation a beauty to behold.  
"Master"  
"Yes Seras?"  
"Doesn't the sky look beautiful." He looked up towards the dark canopy, "Yes, you are right. It certainly is, I couldn't think of a more... perfect evening, wouldn't you agree." She smiled up at him  
"Yes, it is, almost makes me want to have a bite to drink." Both of them stopped walking and looked at the other, before laughing at the inside joke.  
"Stealing my lines aren't we Policegirl."  
"Only when the moment's right Master." They continued walking aimlessly around the city. Each in their own thoughts.

It was an odd feeling, contentedness. Usually he only felt it during the throes of battle. Blood coating the ground, power flooding his senses, those were times he felt at peace. This was different though, he wasn't killing anything, yet he felt he could walk like this a while longer. It was an odd sensation, but not unliked. He looked down to the girl beside him, her eyes seemed to shine even behind contacts. Yes, he could entertain this awhile longer, just a little while longer.

Black Star to White Devil, Red and the Angel have left Stella, and are walking towards the main drag. I repeat, Big Red and the Crimson Angel have left Stella, and are walking towards the main drag. Await instructions to begin Phase 2.

******************************************

5:10 Am Eastern European Time

*************************************

The temple was always cold at night. The stone floor never felt a degree over freezing, and no light ever reached the bottom levels. The second lowest of the levels belonged to his Madame, the head Priestess. The woman with the long black hair whose face was never seen. The lowest level however, was the chamber of conversion, and he was not allowed in the chamber of conversion, because he was already converted, and did not need the counsel they require.

Since Rolan was first taken in as a young child by her greatness, she had given him a new life. No longer did he know the pains of starvation, or the fevers of sickness. She had been kind to him, and had never raised her hand against him.

So why, why was it he was so stricken by her actions. Her decisions to own this woman. Never before had he felt anything but grateful or astonished by his Madame. Many times in the past she had pointed out people she wanted, and it had never affected him. Never before had he second guessed his lady's decisions. Because Madam was always right, she had the ear of the Dark Mother, and one with the ear of the Dark Mother is never wrong. Madame herself had taught him that, and she is never wrong.

So even if his conscious told him to forsake this quest, he would not voice it. It was their mission to spread the Dark Mother's control, and Hellsing was in the way. Until Hellsing was squashed beneath his Madame's heels, their mission could not move forward. Especially now that the No Life King had returned.

Rolan shivered at the thought of their adversary. Since he was a child, he had heard stories of the King's awful power, and had feared him like the monsters he feared in the shadows. He hated that about himself, how he so easily feared the world, but he would never tell the Priestess this, because in the house of Lamashtu, only she was to be feared. Nothing was as frightening as the self-made Goddess, and as such, nothing else should be feared but her. Hellsing would fall, and his Priestess would guide the way to eternal glory for them all.

However, he still couldn't help the knot that formed in his stomach, or the bile that threatened to come up at the thought of fighting against Hellsing. He hated that he did not have faith in his Madame, and hated even more that deep down, he questioned the mission they led. What was their to question, it was the world that was wrong not them. They were mere instruments, the tools to a better world. But somehow, he felt deep down, it was not they who were wrong, but themselves.

He made his way down the hall to his Madame's chamber, the Grand Hall where her throne and the Statue of the Great Mother sat. He walked at his usual hurried pace, but stopped to cover his ears when the screams came up from the bowels of the temple. The tortured screams sent tremors up his spine, but this process was necessary. Those who would not willingly convert, had to be shone the way. Madame Priestess had many times in the past told him the screams were a reflection of their sins from their past lives. The sins must be drained from them, so their bodies could be clean slates for the tainting hand of the Dark Mother.

So as much as he felt pain for them, he must not acknowledge it with grief, he must be happy for them; because they were becoming clean for her Greatness, and soon new sisters and brothers would join the family.

When the screaming died down, he removed his hands from his ears, and walked into the Grand Hall. His eyes avoided the shadows between the pillars. The girls with their clawed hands and long hair were nothing to fear, but like everything else in life, he was terrified of them.

He quickly made his way to her throne, kneeling in front of her like the loyal servant he was.

"Good Evening Ma'am."

"And Good Evening to you Rolan. Tell me, how is the operation coming along." Her fingers steepled at her chest, the long nails of her index fingers clicking together as she tapped them.

"Phase one of the operation has been a success. Our men are awaiting orders to begin Phase two."

"Good, is this not wonderful, no?" Rolan nodded his head, the sick feeling in his stomach doubling.

"It is, but there has been one problem Ma'am." The clicking of her nails stopped, with the tension in the room the tapping of elongated nails on stone floor from the things in the shadows could be heard, as they moved forward to see what was happening.

"What has happened?" Her voice was grave, but was not directed at him.

"About ten minutes ago, Sir Integra Hellsing received a phone call. They have learned of phase one, they know we have maneuvered men to the city of Cairo, and she in turn has called for reinforcements."

The room grew completely silent, not even the sound of clicking nails could be heard from the masked women. Rolan looked up from his feet to his Madame, but then looked back down from the sight. Her hands were up at cheeks, nails digging and leaving red angry scratches down the already scarred pale face. Her stained teeth bit deep into her lip, causing a small trickle blood to drip down her chin.

The silence lasted for a few more moments, until it was broken by the low dark laugh of the woman across from him. He looked up again, this time to scared to look away. She was laughing hysterically now, each shrill chirp digging him deeper into himself.

"Ma'am?"

"Do not worry Rolan, this is good news. Very good, No?" He looked at her horrified, he had no idea what she was talking about.

"I don't follow Ma'am how-"

"Do not fret, this is a test from our Great Mother." Her hand lifted to the statue behind her, the hideous creature which they all coveted. "We will meet this challenge head on my dear Rolan..." She drifted off with more of her insane laughter.

"Ma'am, how shall we meet this test." She stopped her laughing, but her wicked smile remained.

"Send Nemorraya." Rolan lifted up, his body quacking.

"Are you certain Ma'am! Are you certain you should send her of all people?!"

His question was met with more insane laughter, "Of course Rolan, when have I ever been wrong." She beckoned him closer with her bony finger, and he came forward against his better judgement. Once he was close enough her hand came up beneath his chin. He had to keep himself from shirking back, her skin ice cold, colder than the stone beneath his feet.

"Rolan, my sweet Rolan, when have I ever chosen wrong by you?"  
"Never, never have you chosen wrong for me."  
"Shh." Her other hand came up to hush him, first putting her index finger to his lips before stroking his face. "No matter what it takes, we will defeat these horrid men, do you not want to defeat them, kill them yourself if you have to."  
"Of course I do Ma'am."  
"Then allow me to kill them, these swine have gone far enough, no? With their false gods and false prophets. They must be stopped. The Vatican, Hellsing, all of them must be destroyed... Do you not want to kill the vermin who killed your sister." The mention of his sister brought him to tears.  
"I do Ma'am. I will kill all of them to avenge her." The priestess smiled down at him, both hands stroking his face. Smearing the hot tears across his lightly tanned skin.  
"Then we must kill them, it is people like Hellsing, people who preach morals, and integrity, it was people like that who killed your sister, your sweet little Mishka.

By now Rolan was crying hard, rivers of salty tears dripped down his face and onto his white robes.  
"What must I do Ma'am, what must I do." She continued to stroke him, his dark brown hair falling unkept into his face.  
"Calm now Rolan, we will do as the Goddess commands." She smiled down at him, her smile not the picture of motherly love, but the closest he had ever had as far as he could remember. "Now, go to the room of forgiveness. Your faith has faltered today, you will need to give tribute to our Queen."  
"Yes Ma'am."

He stood without problem, and walked out the door and down the hall. Going up a level, he went into the chamber of forgiveness. It was a large round room. A giant fountain of Lamashtu stood in the middle, high and proud above all. Along the walls of the room were stalls, each with enough room for a person to kneel. The sounds of forgiveness could be heard, with snap of a whip. He went to the stall straight ahead, on the other side of the room.

Upon entering he closed the curtain, and knelt before the small statue of Lamashtu, her hideous grin turning his stomach.  
"Lamashtu, daughter of Anu. I have sinned against you, please forgive me for my falter in faith. He opened the box in front of him, and pulled out the flogger. He pulled down his robes top, and prepared for the first self-inflicted sting.

"Tomorrow Hellsing will fall."

Snap

"Tomorrow we will be victorious."

Snap Snap

"Tomorrow, Sister Nemorraya will wreak havoc.

Snap Snap

"Tomorrow, I will have vengeance."

Snap

He stopped his flogging, his body trembling with adrenaline. Tonight the men were gaining position, but tomorrow at dusk, they would attack.

*****************************************

5:12 Am Eastern European Time

*************************************

They had hopped and hopped, but alas, nothing came up. Not that either of them minded, well... she minded. Alucard was almost sulking beside her, not one argument, not one fistfight, and not a single kind of confrontation had taken place that night, much to the Elder Vampire's displeasure.

Seras shook her head at the brooding man, and looked up at the sky. The faintest lines of light were slowly making their way across the canopy. They had been out longer than planned, but it had been worth it. Seras couldn't remember the last time she had, had such a great time. Between paperwork, house chores, training men, and personal training; Fun had gone out the window years ago, but he had brought that back, even if it was just the one night. She had thoroughly enjoyed it.

They entered the Hotel lobby, and went straight to the elevator. Seras giving small waves to the people they passed, and Alucard just being... Alucard. After the elevator ride Seras walked to the couch and collapsed, tiredness getting the better of her as she lay unmoving on the couch. The Coffins had been placed in the Master Bedroom away from prying eyes, and as much as Seras loved her bed, the trek seemed to far a walk in her tired state.

She lay there for a few moments, sleep on the verge of taking her. Tonight had been great. However, she had a sinking feeling tomorrow would not be the same. Something nagged her in the back of her mind, several times throughout the night she had felt the sensation of being watched, but the feeling came and went so fast there was no telling. Whatever was nagging her she did not know, all she did know, was two peaceful nights in a row was rare, and hopeless to wish for.

Ring Ring Ring

Why was her conscious always right.

"Hello?" Seras answered groggily into the phone, sleep retreating from her mind as she realized who called. "Wait, why are you still up Sir, it's three in England, is something going on?" At the mention of Integra, Alucard left the bedroom and entered the sitting area, curiousness beckoning him further.  
"Seras, I'm going to need you on full alert next sundown. Is Alucard with you?"  
"Yes he is here, would you like to talk to him."  
"No I'm sure he is already within earshot." Seras looked up from her spot on the couch, her Master was definitely within ear shot, he was standing in front and over her, blocking out the outside world with his larger body.

"Yes, he can hear you alright." Seras frowned up at him, and holding the phone between her shoulder and ear she put out her good arm to push him up some. His body refused to budge, and instead he went down further in protest to her pushes. Seras eventually gave up, and sunk deeper into the couch to earn personal space.  
"Seras, reinforcements should be arriving around four o'clock your time."  
"Why do we need reinforcements. Has something come up Sir?" Seras tried to ignore the man standing over her, but it was becoming a harder and harder task to accomplish.  
"Intelligence picked up movement in the South and Southwest. Known vampire hideouts have emptied, and it would seem they are congregating in a city in the Northeastern side of Egypt." The air in the hotel room seemed to move, dark yet joyous energy buzzing in the small space.  
"Let me guess, Cairo."  
"Yes, your orders are simple. Search and Destroy, and please, for the love of God. Try not to cause too much damage, and do not cause any unneeded collateral. Is that understood, Alucard." A dark laughter rose from deep within his chest, "Crystal, My Master." A sigh came from the other end of the phone.

"Try to get some sleep, Sir. We can handle things here." A pause came from the other end, no doubt a cigar was being extinguished on the other side. "Very well. Sleep now, and prepare for anything that might occur tonight. Do not let them one up us, that's an order."  
"Goodnight Sir."

Seras tossed the phone to the other cushion beside her, her eyes traveling to the mad man in front of her. His hair had lengthened some, and his eyes burning pure excitement.  
"Well, would you look at that, you'll get to maim and or kill someone after all. Does this make a happy ending to your night?" Just mentioning the words maim and kill set the tension in the room up a degree.  
"Hopefully these opponents will be as fun as our last. These freaks and their sorry excuses for ghouls hold no challenge. Which reminds me?"  
"What Master?" Seras pushed back some as her Master leaned down. His breathe tickling across her skin as he reached her ear.

"Will you partake this time, Seras?" She lost her voice for a second, straining to find it again.  
"Partake in what Master?" She could feel his grin widen. "In the slaughter of course. Will you partake in the killing of any dogs that appear before us. Cut them down, wring their necks, devour their sweet ambrosia as they lay weak and submissive to you. Will you relish in their screams and find ecstasy in the blood shed, well will you, Seras... Victoria?"

Her breathing was erratic, she could already taste the velvety copper on her lips. Her nails were dug into the cushion beside and her teeth were digging into her lower lip.

"Well are you... Seras." She had no voice, anything she might have said was swept away with each word that left his mouth.  
"Seras..." She squeezed her eyes shut, "Yes." It was quiet, but she got the word out.  
"What was that, I think you might have said something." He lifted up to look her in the face, her eyes were no longer shut, but staring him straight on.  
"Yes, I will... You can bet on it." His laughter filled the room, a shadowy mess enveloping him as he took his leave.

"You were right, tonight certainly is, a beautiful evening." With that he was gone, leaving a frustrated blonde in his wake. She didn't move, she didn't say anything. She just sat there dumbfounded on what had just happened.

Finally having enough of the sun she closed the curtains with her shadows, still not leaving her spot on the sofa. It wasn't till she heard the light footsteps of her faithful friend behind her that she took notice to the outside world. He walked around the couch, stopping in front of the still dazed draculina, his arms crossed over his chest. They were both silent for a moment, till the Captain broke the silence.  
"What the hell does he have that I don't have." Seras shook her head a little, not quite catching onto what he was referring to. "What... What are you talking about?"  
"Him, I at least have to touch a woman a little to get her this flustered, but him. All he has to do is lean in and speak. Inequity I tell you, it's just not right."

Seras sat up, words finally coming back to her. "Speaking... Flustered!... Touching! I will have you know I am not flustered Pip Bernadotte, I am merely... merely..."  
"A steaming cauldron of sexual frustration. I assure you I understand, it must be rough being a forty-nine year old virgin." One of the pillows were thrown at his head, not that it hit him or anything, it passed through like everything else did.  
"No, I am not a cauldron of.. what ever you just said. I am just, just surprised is all, and anxious."  
"Anxious for what?"  
"Dusk. I am anxious for dusk to come already."  
"Why so you can fight?"  
"Yes. I am very anxious to fight!"  
"Or so you can see tall, dark, and Mister I don't have to touch a woman to get her- umph!"

A shadow smacked him right in the gut, and on the other end of it was a very pissed, and massively internally confused vampiress.  
"That is not at all the situation. You have no idea, what just happened." He staggered for a few seconds, before coming back with a witty retort.  
"No, your right. I have no idea what kind of relationship you two have, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know when a woman is hot and bothered."

Seras hung her head, she had no comebacks left in her. A mixture of sleep deprivation, hunger, and inner turmoil were weighing her down. The Captain walked over to the emotionally distressed woman. Wrapping her in a loose hug.  
"I am sorry Ma Chere. I went to far." She lightly hit him once in the chest before hugging him back. "I forgive you." Her response was cut short by a small yawn. They pulled away, sleep a necessity before the next sunset.  
"Come along Ma Chere, if you would like I could always give you a goodnight kiss." This earned him another light punch, but the mood was lightened for the moment. The faint smell of cigarette smoke filling the room as he lit his before bed cigarette.

Sleep took her effortlessly, dreams of war and bloodshed to come following her into the next night.


	9. Cairo pt.3

"Oh what is it now, is it that Seras girl again... What did she do this time?"

The world is dark, the familiar feeling of being lighter than air came to him. Focus slowly returning, the voices on the other side becoming clearer and clearer. Alucard trained on the image before him. He knew it was another memory, nothing more than a dream if the blonde child in front of him was anything to go by. Seras stood in the middle of the room, face downcast, and blue fury playing in her eyes. A small child nothing like the innocent girl in the closet, and far to hateful to be the young vampiress he knew now.

"Yes, she hit one of the other children with a rock for taking a toy away from her. I believe she is still recovering from well... you know." No he didn't know, but he wanted to. He wanted to know what she could have seen, what could have made her so cold?

"This behavior is inexcusable. She will start acting appropriately, or I will happily send her packing for the good of the orphanage."

The scene faded out again to be replaced with another more familiar one.

"Mummy, Mummy!"  
"Stay in the closet, and don't come out, no matter what."

He was in the closet again, but at the same time he was not. He was the silent spectator, unable to do anything but watch as the act continued. He turned his head toward the door as gun shots rang out, anticipation was eating him. Would it continue, or would it end like last time?

He took in the sight of her face. Terrified wide eyes staring at the door, deadening before she even saw what was beyond the wooden barrier. She lifted her hands to the double doors, pushing them open just the slightest. He held back looking into the room, his sight concentrated on the paling face. The shift taking place in those once childish eyes, the cold fury of the other one was taking root.

He could hear voices, but they were unclear. Everything but the girl in front of him was becoming unclear, but he tried his best to watch. The sounds of boots running to and fro becoming louder and louder. Then everything stopped, the world became silent, and the only sound that could be heard was the one tentative step Seras took outside the closet.

Alucard wanted to yell at her to stop, but it was too late. She was running out of the closet, and he awoke to the inside of his coffin. The sounds of boots running and men readying for battle overriding his senses. The sun was still up, its warm force trying to pull him under. He wanted to follow its command, go back into peaceful slumber, but the sounds outside were far to loud. And from the sounds coming from the coffin next to his, someone was in agreement with him.

"Please Victoria, we all need to be in position by nightfall...Seras?"  
"Leave me alone."  
"Please... Captain Victoria!"  
"I'm going back to sleep."  
"No, please we have two hours till night fall."  
"Then wake me up in an hour."  
"Seras."  
"James... now that we know each other, let me go back to sleep."  
"I can't."  
"Why not?"  
"Because reinforcements will be arriving any time now... Victoria?"  
"What?"  
"Are you getting up." Silence met the question of the frustrated Captain, this was not the first time he had tried to wake her today."Well are you getting up?"  
"... Bring me food."

Alucard listened to the frustrated sigh of the man, as well as his foot steps as he walked away, no doubt going to fulfill her wishes. Seras stayed in her coffin for a few seconds, waking up the rest of the way before leaving her warm space, and walk to the mini fridge on his side of the room. A sigh of disappointment met her lips as she opened the door. The sound of rustling could be heard as she grabbed a few packets, and then sat with a tired plop on the ground beside his coffin. She sipped slowly on her meal, displeasure waving off her to him through their link.

"Master, I know you're awake... I brought you two packets." He shifted in his coffin, pushing the top up to let in the little light that shone in the room. Thick curtains had been drawn, but to no avail small rivets of light still peeked through. Each strand of light irritated his sight, but thankfully Seras sat in the way keeping most of them from landing on him. Her small hand holding out a plastic bag to him, the partially edible meal lukewarm to the touch.

He finished off the packets quickly, the taste bitter from sitting unrefrigerated. The electricity to the building had been cut some time before dawn, and the occupants of the hotel had been transferred out sometime before noon. The excuse given to the paid residents being something about infestation. Alucard didn't know for sure, nor did he care. All he cared about at the moment was for the sun to hurry up and go down, things were always funner at night, and this night was especially promising.

"Seras."  
"Yes, Master?"  
"Why did you send him off to find food, when we both know the only food supply is in this room?" The mirth could be heard in his voice, amusement at her actions leaking through.  
She gave a short shrug, her features haggard under her bangs. "I'm tired."  
"Is that all." He waited for a reply as she finished off her last packet. Her face scrunching in disgust at the strong taste of plastic.  
"No, maybe I just wanted a moment, alone, with you before tonight."

Alucard gave her an award winning smile, an emotion she couldn't quite place flitting around in hellish orbs.  
"Oh, and what would you want with me, alone?" About that time a stack of papers were tossed into his laps. They were blueprints of the building, as well as intelligence reports on the estimated size of the force planning on attacking. Alucard's hopes fell a little upon looking at them, obviously her meaning of the word alone was different from his own.

"If you were to attack, where you would hit, what direction would you attack from." Seras rolled out the blueprints to show the building, each page in order by floor, the lowest floor on top with the penthouse blueprints on the bottom of the stack. Alucard gave her a deadpan expression, before pointing to the front door.

The humor was lost on Seras for a second, before her tired brain wracked through the meaning, giving him an unamused glare. "Okay smart ass, where would 'they'  
attack from."

His smile widened, how that was possible was beyond Seras, and he looked down at the papers before him. Giving some a quick glance before tossing them out onto the floor. By the end of his examination only two blueprints remained, the ones for the first and top floor.

"How are they going to come from the top floor?" It was a serious question, but of course Alucard was not taking it that way. "There not, not unless we lure them this way."  
She gave him an incredulous look, "And how do you propose we do that?"

He gave a quick once over the prints in his hand, before looking over to the blonde beside him. "How far do your shadows reach?"  
Seras folded her arms, a look of concentration on her continence. "I can envelop the entire hotel, as well as a small 50 meter perimeter around it."  
"By envelop are you including every room in the vicinity."  
"Yes Sir."

Now it was Alucard's turn to look serious, a rare thing in itself. He thought for a few seconds, before turning to question the girl again.  
"How is your defense."  
Seras gave him a proud smile, eyes flickering happily," Integra says when I'm at my best it's practically impenetrable."

The seriousness left Alucard, replaced by his usual look of mirth.  
"Good, then Seras."  
"Yes Master."  
"I have a plan."

Something is wrong.  
But what could it be.  
Everything is in place. The men are surrounding the hotel, the targets have been spotted, all is going according to plan... yet something feels off.

"Meania, the rest of the men have been placed, we are ready to attack." The soldier reporting remained kneeling on the ground, his head bowed to the young girl before him. The girl turned her head slightly, brown hair a shade away from black blowing in the wind. Giving the soldier a quick glance, she turned back to the scene before her, a large hotel surrounded by Hellsing soldiers. As she watched she continued to sway her feet off the ledge of the building, hands playing with the cords of her large brown cloak. If Meania was anything, it was careful and precise, traits which could not fail her now.

"You may rise, and thank you. Now continue on, we will send for you when the time arrives." Her voice was small, but held a conviction most took years to achieve. Upon hearing it, the soldier rose to his feet and left, no doubt relaying the message. Meanwhile her legs continued to swing, the breeze picking up for short gusts at a time.

The sound of clicking heels turned her attention away from the hotel, long strides followed by the staccato sound of nails on concrete. The noise sent a shiver up her spine, reminding her to much of the "things" she took care of. Shaking her head to rid the thoughts, she turned her body towards her company, only one of which was welcome.

"Do tell, what bothers me with your presence tonight, Ezer." A dark chuckle spilled forth from the large man, his bravado coming off in arrogant waves. He stepped forward towards Meania, his fingers flitting through her hair as he passed, bringing forth a disgusted groan from the young girl. "Why don't you tell me, Miss know it all." The action brought forth a growl from the more welcomed companion, a black pharaoh hound.

Ezer stopped his playing, disdain towards the sleek animal evident. "I only came to drop this off." With a small jump, the hound situated itself on the ledge, it's slender body fitting perfectly on the small space. Laying its head on her lap, Meania promptly started petting her.

The man stood off to the side, head turned toward the targeted location. "Meania, what is the enemy planning, can you see it?"

With a brief look back, the quiet girl closed her eyes, her minds eye seeking the answers. "They have soldiers placed all around the building, as well as the surrounding structures. However..." Ezer starred at her, eyes piercing deep, annoyance and impatience seeping through, "Well."

Meania simply ignored him, continuing to study the image in her mind. "There are only two entries. The underground level, leading up into the lobby, and the roof access door leading to the penthouse suite. All other entries have been blocked." She turned around to look towards her comrade, a grave look on her continence, a seriousness Ezer did not portray. "So what, all we have to do is split into two teams. One takes the top, and one takes bottom, easy." Ezer turned to walk away, but not before being stopped by the sharp tongue of the young girl.

"Not so fast, you really think its a coincidence it was split this way. Think about it Ezer, two entries, it would only make since that at each entry would be-."  
"One of the targets, right?!" Elation could be heard in him, the idea of blood shed and conflict sending his head into a senseless bliss. "Yes, and please control yourself, it is under her Head Priestesses orders that we do not kill them. We are merely observing, seeing what they can do. Do not allow yourself to compromise this by dying over your petty urge to kill."

Ezer shook his head, common sense not his best tool, "Oh yeah, well her Highness can get off her high horse, she don't know shit. If we are going to kill them, now is the time. Fuck whatever else she has to say, if I see an opportunity I'm taking it, whether or not you 'miss see it all' say so or not." With a haughty huff, he turned and walked away, back down to where the troops lay in wait. With in moments their steps could be heard, rushing down the stairs to whatever death await them. Meania stayed her ground, feet continuing to childishly sway in the wind, fingers still stroking the head and back of the yellow-eyed dog.

Meania peered down at her friend, the graveness never leaving her face, "It doesn't matter, not anymore." Turning her head back towards the hotel, exasperation flooded her eyes, "None of it matters anymore, whether they fight well or not, they are all going to die."

Bang

Bang

Crack

It took three hefty hits, but the first team was able to break through the doors to the back entrance. They walked in unison through the hall, their steps resounding off the walls like one.

They made their way through the dark halls, coming up to the lobby quickly. Getting into formation they surveyed the room, and after deeming it safe split into their smaller groups.

The group leader looked around, his eyes barely noticeable under his long garments.  
"Hey leader, aren't we supposed to be fighting right now. Where the hell is everybody? Ezer said we'd be fighting one of the targets."

The stoic man turned to the one who spoke, a short, and from what he had gathered over the last few hours, a loud mouthed, and obnoxious new-born. He was an impatient spawn who would be better dead than alive.

"They are more than likely in hiding, we must be on our guard men."

"Them hiding, aren't these fuckers the 'Great Hellsing Organization'. The fuck they need to hide from." A visible vain pulsed on the Leader's temple.

"Yes they are, which is all the more reason we should be on guard.

A silence fell upon the group, the only sounds being the quiet squeaks of mice in the walls. That was, until Simmons decided to speak again.

"The fuck is this shit, I came here to kick the shit out of some little girl and an old fuck. I did not come here to sit around with my thumb up my ass."

The leader continued to stay still, the little of his face which could be see growing in concern. The atmosphere of the building had been bothering him since the moment they had entered. The aura was thick, and in places felt as if an over bearing force was pushing down on him. Worst of all, he could not pin-point it, for it felt as if it was coming from all around. The ground, ceiling, walls, even the objects in the lobby themselves seemed to be oozing a strange, yet powerful aura. A presence which seemed to be growing by the second.

"Simmons, shut the hell up." Another in the group had decided to speak up, his own patience running as thin as their leaders.

"What, it's true. I came here to kick ass and take names, and instead I'm standing in a hotel lobby doing jack shit." Another in the group scoffed, curiosity bringing him into the conversation.

"You really think you can take on the No Life King and his Servant."

"Damn right I can, watch me." Several in the group began to chuckle, the hilarity of what he was saying never registering in the dumb boys head.

"And how do you plan to do that." A feminine voice asked him. Everyone in the group shut up, their guards on high alert, there were no women in their group, a fact Simmons did not seem to grasp.

"Well first off, the bitch is gonna be easy. No woman is able to resist these bad boys." The 'Bad Boys' in question, were his sad excuses for biceps, and the statement brought a small laugh from the woman, a person no one in the lobby saw, but heard with great clarity.

The leader stepped back towards the door, the hair on his neck standing on end. The air was growing denser, and the light from the outside seemed to almost be drowned out, the windows no longer allowing the street lights to flood in. The air was also becoming colder, the sense of someone walking over his grave was creeping deeper and deeper into this bones.

"So what about the King, how you plan to take him out." Simmons gave snort, his arms coming up to cross his chest in a stance one would expect from a spoiled child not getting their way. "He won't be that hard."  
"Why do you say that?" To this he gave another obnoxious snort. "I bet he's not all he's cracked up to be, he's old-"  
"Simmons shut up!" The room was growing arctic. "Probably tame with how long he's been the bitch of England."  
"Simmons for fucks sake shut up!" A dark aura of rage started clouding and suffocating the air. "And most of all-"  
"For gods sake shut up!." Simmons gave a triumph grin, as if his words meant anything. "he's a cowardice bitch who doesn't know how to show his face, him and the dumb blonde."

Terror flooded the crowded men in the lobby, wide eyes starring to the spot behind Simmons, as they slowly backed up, guns on the ready. A confused Simmons looked back at them, his hands coming up in a mock surrender.  
"What the hell guys... Com- come on... This isn't funny. What are you looking a-"

Simmons froze in place as the feeling of eyes settled on his back. Turning ever slowly, he turned till the red orbs of a small blonde woman starred back at him. Body the complete picture of calm, but eyes that spoke of torture.

"So you would call my Master a cowardice bitch Hmmm..."

A terrified yelp left his mouth, followed by a jumble of formless syllables, no words were able to form. Her mere presence felt like it was squeezing the life from his body, his mind fogging up with terror, as her malice infused words settled into his core. Each word feeling like a kick to the stomach.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but the only cowardice bitch here is you.

Those were the last words Simmons heard, before his body fell into two.

The sounds of gunfire, the screams made by mortal men as they are killed mercilessly.

The scent of blood, an ambrosia as it fills the senses with its rich aroma.

The taste of fear, it spices the blood which falls, a mixture of terror and adrenaline leaving a bitter yet sweet concoction behind in its red depths.

The feeling of bones crushing underfoot, a strong reminder of who the weak are compared to the strong, and lastly...

The sight of your enemy falling, his humiliated corpse scattered and unrecognizable among his fallen comrades.

This is what he craved, what he relished when given the chance. All his life he had known the sweet symphony of war, and in the ever changing world of today, it was the one constant he could rely on.

Alucard sat in the recliner he had claimed as his, temporary, throne. Legs crossed as he swirled a glass of cheap wine he had 'appropriated' from the downstairs kitchen. Although it wasn't as aged as he would have liked, the unique and foreign flavors it had to offer would work till he returned.

His chair faced the open window, the city below sparkling in the night, its lights like glitter against a black backdrop. However, Alucard was not looking at the night, he was busy looking at the spectacle down below in the lobby.

A smile remained on his face, pride swelling as his favorite fledgling mowed down the enemies before her. It had been plaguing his thoughts all night on what she would do, how she would handle herself before the face of a human enemy, but he need not worry. She cut them down as she would any other. Her shadows slicing through them and low-life alike.

His ears tuned in to the roof, the sounds of boots lightly trekking across the cement coming closer and closer.

"Fools." Alucard's smile turned dark, anticipation eating at him, but he would not budge. Although his insides burned to taste their blood, and his teeth ached to sink down in them, he would not move. They had played right into his trap. Fools always brought themselves to deaths door, their actions toppling them over the cliff, jester hats jingling all the way down. If fools is what they were, then a fools death they deserved, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

He listened as they made it through the roof access, and then into the hall outside the room. He assessed them, looked at them with his minds eye, and with disappointment saw nothing worth noting. All of them were weak, pathetic, low-lives. None of them could hold a candle to even a regular of their kind, let alone him and his fledgling.

With a dramatic burst they broke through the door, filing in and surrounding the chair. He had just enough time to take one more sip before the glass was shattered in his hand, a flurry of bullets peppering him and his self-proclaimed throne. Shells hit the ground, magazines were emptied, and by the end of it the chair, window, and Alucard had been reduced to rubble. Himself a broken pile of bones and meat.

The men stood around, unsure of whether to continue or fire more. Anxiety high among all of them.

A small red-head, no more than a boy, looked about unsure. His freckled face turned up in mock disbelief. "Is this it? Did we really just win." Alucard waited till now to break his silence. His broken body standing as pieces came back together. Bones dissolving into blood before joining the rest of him, tendons realigning. The occultist watched on in a disgusted fascination, terror sinking into their guts as their impending doom formed before their very eyes.

A younger boy in the front row stepped back, his body trembling fiercely as he tried to perceive what was happening. "Monster!" He yelled out, his voice constricted with fear.

Alucard merely smiled, his teeth on full display. "I say, how original, but let me ask you..." He walked forward, arms out to his side as he stalked onward, "If I'm a Monster, then what does that make you?"

He stepped back one more time, the trembling in his body almost bad enough to knock the gun from his hand. He couldn't speak, he couldn't breathe, so he did the one thing he could. He lifted his gun and fired. A pointless effort as Alucard ignored the bullets, and instead went for his throat. A spray of red flying through the air and painting the ceiling as he sunk his teeth in.

The other men fired, horrified expressions on their faces, as they witnessed Alucard bite the mans head clean off, blood running down his face as he lunged for the next, clawing their torso's from bottom to top with inhuman nails.

Those who could run, ran with all their might towards the doors, only to be grabbed by tendrils and pulled back to the massacre. Screaming and crying, they faced their deaths at the hands of Alucard, his ruthless spree fueled by dark excitement. With claws he tore them asunder, limbs and entrails covering the floor; and then with his teeth he drank the blood of the fallen, the air thickening with the scent of iron as more fell.

One of the low-lives grabbed a fallen lamp off the floor, and with all his might ran at Alucard in an attempt to impale him. The lamp struck him in the back, going through to the other side in a spray of blood. The boy smiled with triumph, before immediately regretting his decision.

Alucard turned around, mad glee in his eyes as he starred down the younger man. Another low-life ran at Alucard, but he caught the boy by the throat, and slammed him into the boy who had stabbed with him the cheap, golden-colored lamp.

The boys fell in a sprawl of limbs. Each trying to get up before he came back. The first boy went to get up, only to pull back in horror as Alucard crushed the head of the boy he had thrown with his boot, blood spraying onto the lamp boy.

Alucard grabbed him by the neck, pulling him up in the air till they were eye level, his legs kicking into the nothingness. Blood obscured his vision, his body was numb, he had no where to run, but he still continued to thrash, not wanting to believe this was the end.

He starred into the eyes of his tormentor, and felt his stomach grow sick as he watched the man reach around, and pull the lamp out of his body.  
"Ho- h- how?" Alucard looked him dead on, his intense gaze never looking away. Then with a smile he said, "You missed."

The boy didn't understand what he meant, till he looked down, and saw he had indeed missed his mark. The lamp he had used to impale him had missed the monster's heart.

His body tensed as Alucard set him on his feet, not believing at all what was happening. His hope skyrocketed, but were crushed within the blink of an eye, as Alucard turned, and thrust the lamp into the boys chest.

"That's where the heart is, foolish boy."

The boy held a look of surprise, before crumbling to the ground, dead before he ever made contact with the carpet.

Only six soldiers remained, and as their comrade hit the ground they ran. Adrenaline the only thing keeping them going.

They turned a hall, and started running towards the elevator, the first one their nearly punching the button to go down. He continued pressing the button till the rest of them caught up, dread filling his face as the doors didn't open.

"Guys the power's out, we can't use the elevator." A slower man ran up to them, his body quacking with fear. He turned his head to and fro, till finally he saw a sign which he hoped was salvation. "The stairs, use the stairs!"

They ran down another hall, relief spreading across their faces as the door to the stairs became closer and closer. They each smiled as they ran, completely sure they would survive.

The first man there grabbed the door handle, smiling back at the others as he opened the door, never seeing the blonde assailant on the other side.  
The smile never left his face, even as he fell in two onto the floor.

The rest of them ran away, running down hallway after hallway. They ran down one, barren of doors or windows, and at the end of the hallway was another door leading to a staircase, the access to the roof.

They ran faster, their breaths coming out in rickety gust as there lungs tried to keep up with the demand for oxygen.

They were within touching distance of the door, when a red-clad arm phased through with a swipe. Just catching the man in the front on the shoulder. They turned around, ready to run again when they realized there way had been blocked. The girl with the blonde hair who had blocked their way before was now there again. Blood dripping off her hair and clothing in rivets.

The group looked back and forth, certain death coming from either end. On one side they had her, and on the other they had him. Death was eminent.

In a last stitch effort they fired. Alucard taking each bullet as he moved forward, while Seras used her shadows as a make shift shield.

The men on the end towards Seras, desperate to live, took out their knives and charged. Three of them in total ran at her, and the other 2 watched in horror as black shadows rose from the ground, impaling them before they reached her. They fell to the ground in heaps, their bodies left bloodless as she absorbed it through her tendrils.

The two that were left huddled together, back to back as the stronger vampires moved in.

They took one look at each other, before each pulling out their guns. The barrels sticking to their heads as they pulled the trigger. However, only one shot sounded out.

Click Click

Click

Click Click Click

Cold horror settled into the man facing Seras. Where as the other man had bullets, he was all out.

Seras's shadows flared to strike, and as they did he stepped back, a jolt of pain flashing through him, as a red-clad arm implanted itself in his chest, and shadows slashed the bottom half of him away.

The coward fell to the floor in a crumpled mess, his blood dripping to the floor as Alucard flung it off his arm, anger swelling at the cowardice actions of the last two. He stayed planted in his spot, fury building up. Nothing pissed him off more than a coward, and to have two of them in a row, was inexcusable.

His attention was pulled away from his thoughts as he felt something cold run up his arm. He looked down to see Seras, her shadows cleaning the blood of the man off his sleeve, depositing it onto the floor.

He looked on with interest, his fury subsiding slowly.

"Seras."  
"Yes, Master." She acknowledged him, but continued to clean his sleeve, wiping every bit of the coward from his clothing.  
"You know better than to waste food." She looked up at his face, then down to the floor to the puddle she had created, only to look back up again bewildered.  
"But Sir?"  
"But What?" A little of his agitation shown through, not that it lasted as she looked more and more bewildered at him.  
"Sir, cowards aren't edible."

Whether it was the straight face she had said it with, or just the situation itself he did not know. All he knew was for someone reason, what she had just said, had to be one of the most hilarious thing he had heard in awhile. So he laughed, hearty and loud, and continued to do so even as his ribs ached. Seras laughing along beside him, the hilarity of the situation lost on both of them, but neither one willing to care.

Seras was the first to stop, her attention pulled else where. Alucard followed soon after, his hand coming up to ruffle her hair as he walked by.  
"Seras, where are the others." With another quick glance around with her shadows, she walked fastly up beside Alucard, his long strides out-matching hers as they moved.  
"Master, it would seem there are a few straggling soldiers in the other buildings, probably only snipers-" A sharp crack from the penthouse finished her sentence for her. The sound peaking Alucard's interest as a new enemy made himself known.  
"And..." Alucard asked on, feet taking him in the direction of the penthouse.  
"Aaaaaand, it would seem someone would like to meet with you." They starred at each other for a moment, the time to go to battle rising again.

"Seras, take the surrounding men, and scope the area for anything else. Report back to me when this is finished." With a curt nod of the head, she smiled brightly at her maker. "Right, yes. Give'em hell." and with this she was off, her body dissolving quickly into the floor, leaving behind a smiling Alucard.

**Author's Note:**

> Copyright: I do not own Hellsing. All rights are reserved to their respective parties.


End file.
